from Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post,

Welp! The Avalanche victory parade just took an unwelcome 1,858-mile detour.

Now ain’t that a disgusting development?

“It’s not supposed to be easy,” Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog said Friday night. “And it’s not going to be easy.”

Instead of hoisting the Stanley Cup, the Avs were forced to pack their bags for a trip back to that slush bowl of an ice rink in steamy Florida, after the Lightning staved off elimination from the championship series with a 3-2 victory.

“We didn’t have a choice,” Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said. “It’s do-or-die for us.”

The only way Tampa Bay can win this championship series is if goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy and coach Jon Cooper steal it.

The Avs are clearly superior in every facet of hockey except perhaps where it counts the most: between the pipes and on the bench.

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