THE TAMPA BAY Lightning beat the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 to claim back-to-back NHL Stanley Cup titles.
Sparked by Ross Colton’s second period goal, the Lightning won the best-of-seven final series 4-1, giving them their third NHL title since joining the competition in 1992.
Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves to complete a series-ending shutout for an NHL-record fifth consecutive time, a run stretching back to the 2020 final.
He rose to the occasion in a frantic finish in which Montreal peppered the goal but were repeatedly denied by the big Russian, who was named winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs.
With the Canadiens having won Game 4 by 3-2, Vasilevskiy remained unbeaten in matches following losses from the past two playoff series, both contested during the pandemic.
With Covid-19 having forced the rescheduling of last year’s finals, the win gave Tampa two Stanley Cup titles in just 10 months.
This one at least was secured in front of 18,000 home fans, as opposed to last year when the decider was played in an empty arena.
“It’s unbelievable,” Lightning captain Steven Stamkos told ESPN.
“This group, to go back-to-back after everything we went through last year in the bubble, to go through this year, ups and downs, it’s amazing.”
Hardest trophy to win in any sport, teams have to qualify for playoffs in a gruelling 80 game season, then once in the playoffs, each round is a best of 7 format, so no fluke winners, the Stanley Cup dates back to 1893 and the winners names are engraved on the silver cup, it is massive even when you consider the lower bands contain the names of 13 years worth of teams, the oldest band is removed and preserved in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto every 13 years and a new band added at the bottom. There is a great documentary on youtube called ‘ The names on the cup’ tracing the history and traditions of the Stanley Cup and NHL.
@Owen Lydon: A bit easier when you’re taking advantage of a salary cap loophole like the Lightning did. Can’t argue with their quality though. Phenomenal team
@Owen Lydon: Also a great documentary on TG4 called Poc na nGael about how the game of ice hockey descends directly from hurling.
Go Bruins.
@Owen Lydon: while it is a grueling playoff plenty of fluke teams have won the Stanley cup. The best team definitely doesn’t always win
Trophy is tiny ffs.
The wait goes on for a Canadian team to win it. Would be great to see…
@La Golondrina: Edmonton oilers will be next 2 best players league and young defense starting to mature a few good moves pick up a goalkeeper and they’ll be close