A Tampa Bay three-peat or a Colorado breakthrough?

The Stanley Cup Final is finally here, and the matchup is as good as it gets.

It’s the Tampa Bay Lightning, in search of a third consecutive title, against the Colorado Avalanche, who have been considered a title contender for several seasons. It’s Steven Stamkos, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Nikita Kucherov hunting another ring against Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Gabriel Landeskog going for their first.

Colorado is 12-2 in the postseason, with sweeps in the first and third rounds and a 7-0 record on the road. Tampa Bay, after winning a Game 7 in Toronto in the first round and sweeping the Florida Panthers (winners of the President’s Trophy), overcame a 2-0 deficit in the Eastern Conference finals against the New York Rangers to win in six.

In a roundtable discussion led by Los Angeles Times hockey editor Hans Tesselaar, Times columnist Helene Elliott (a Hockey Hall of Fame honoree) and Times staffers Curtis Zupke, Jim Barrero and Nick Leyva give their thoughts on the best-of-seven series that begins Wednesday in Denver.

What are the biggest keys to this series?

Barrero: Hunger versus experience. Can the hunger of winning a first Cup for this group of Colorado Avalanche players outweigh the playoff experience that surely will be a factor for the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning? It will be interesting to see as this is one of the most compelling Final matchups in quite some time. MacKinnon, having conquered Connor McDavid and the Oilers in a sweep, seems to be on a mission. How do you slow him down? A player like Anthony Cirelli for the Lightning probably will try. Can he play a role similar to that of Phillip Danault for Montreal in last season’s playoffs? How much will the loss of Nazem Kadri to injury and Colorado’s goaltender situation have an…