Andre Burakovsky gives Avalanche thrilling overtime win over Lightning in Game 1 of Stanley Cup Final

DENVER – The Stanley Cup Final see-saw lifted Colorado’s way in the first period Wednesday night

and it swung back hard in favor of Tampa Bay in the second.

Then, for more than a period and into overtime of Game 1, the board leveled out, a heavyweight leaning on each end.

In the end, though, it was precision more than brute force that determined the winner

A flick of the wrist from Avalanche winger Andre Burakovsky

off a one-touch pass from Valeri Nichushkin in transition after a neutral zone turnover

that sent the puck past Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy and the game into franchise lore.

The opening salvo in this championship quest: Colorado 4, Tampa Bay 3 in overtime.

“I saw (Colorado forward J.T.) Compher got the puck in the neutral zone and I was just trying to get out as quick as possible,”

Burakovsky said of the final sequence. “I got back in and they made a great play to me

It was just for me to shoot it and lucky it went in.”

This city waited 21 years for the Stanley Cup Final to return and when the moment finally arrived

it did so in classic fashion. Burakovsky’s game-winner capped what was the 20th finals-opening game to require extra time

and the 95th finals overtime game overall.