When does the 2022 Stanley Cup Final start?

The 2022 Stanley Cup Finals are right around the corner. On Monday, June 6th, the Colorado Avalanche punched their ticket to the Finals with a 6-5 overtime win over the Edmonton Oilers. They swept the series 4-0 and they now await their opponent. The New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning head into Game 3 of the East Final on Tuesday, June 7th with the Rangers up 2-1. We’ll update the results below until we know the start date for the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals.

Update — The Stanley Cup Final will begin on Wednesday, June 15 in Denver between the Lightning and Avalanche.

Remaining Schedule for Rangers-Lightning

• Game 4, Lightning 4, Rangers 1: Tampa Bay smothered New York in Game 4 on Tuesday, officially tying the series heading back to Madison Square Garden. Ondřej Palát came up big with two assists and a goal in the win.
• Game 5, Lightning 3, Rangers 1: Tampa Bay scored three straight goals, including two in the third period to take the road win. Mikhail Sergachev, Ondřej Palát, and Brandon Hagel each scored a goal in the win.
• Game 6, Lightning 2, Rangers 1: The Bolts defeated the Rangers in Game 6 on Saturday to advance to face the Avalanche in the Cup Final.

In last year’s playoff schedule, there was a two-day off period that followed the final team advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals. With that in mind, the earliest that the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals can start would be Monday, June 13th and the latest would be Friday, June 17th. Even if the Rangers won two straight to eliminate Tampa Bay, we would likely see the series start pushed back from that closer to the 15th or 16th. We’ll update this article with details as the Rangers or Lightning move toward clinching a spot in the Finals.

The Avalanche will have home ice for the Finals. The series will follow the 2-2-1-1-1 format that each round of the playoffs has had with the higher seed playing the first two games at home.

The Avalanche had a 56-19-7 record in the regular season. They started the playoffs by sweeping the Nashville Predators in four games. Colorado followed it up with a 4-2 series win against the St. Louis Blues. The Avalanche swept the Oilers 4-0 and have a 12-2 playoff record ahead of the Finals. Colorado gets an extended break with the earliest start date of the Finals being Sunday, June 12th. Center Nathan MacKinnon leads the Avalanche in goals this postseason while goalie Pavel Francouz is an undefeated 6-0.

New York has home advantage and successfully defended their home ice in the first two games of the East Finals. The Rangers outscored the Lightning 9-4 between the two games. The series returned to Tampa Bay for Game 3 and the Lightning picked up the 3-2 win at home as time expired in the third period. Game 4 will take place on Tuesday and is the most important game of the series for momentum with Game 5 headed back to New York.