The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 to win the Stanley Cup. The Lightning are now back-to-back champions, as Champa Bay’s dominance continues.
Game Recap
Once again, Tampa Bay started hot and dominated the game. The Lightning quickly went on the power play three minutes into the game. They were not able to score on the power play, but they got one more chance later in the period. Similar to the first power play, the Bolts came up short on special teams again. Although Tampa Bay could not score on the power play, they prevented Montreal from scoring on the man advantage too. At the end of the Lightning’s dominant first period, they led in shots 13-4.
In the first ten minutes of the second period, Tampa Bay killed two penalties. Shortly into the second half of the middle period, Ross Colton scored the series-clinching and game-winning goal. The Lightning ended the period on the power play but could not extend the lead to two.
The third period was once again dominated by the Bolts. Tampa Bay controlled possession and played smart hockey without taking any penalties. Late in the game, the Habs pulled their goalie in a last-ditch effort. The Lightning stopped the Canadiens with some key defensive stops. This all resulted in back-to-back Stanley Cups for Tampa Bay.
Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 22 of 22 shots for his fourth series-clinching shutout this postseason. The Russian goalie had five shutouts, a .937 save percentage, and a 1.90 goals against average in the playoffs. In one of the best goaltending postseason performances in history, Vasilevskiy won the Conn Smythe Trophy.
Next Up
After winning the Stanley Cup, Tampa Bay will finally get a well-needed rest. However, the rest will come after Tampa’s championship boat parade, which will take place on Monday morning,