EDMONTON, Alberta — The Tampa Bay Lightning are the champions of bubble hockey.
Brayden Point scored his playoff-best 14th target and the Lightning beat the Dallas Stars 2-Zero on Monday night time to win the Stanley Cup and end off probably the most bizarre NHL postseason in historical past, staged just about solely in quarantine as a result of the pandemic. The clock hitting zeros in an empty area nevertheless activate a completely satisfied party for a staff that continued years of playoff heartbreak and two months in isolation.
Goals from Point and Blake Coleman and a 22-save shutout through Andrei Vasilevskiy in Game 6 had been sufficient to continual the Lightning to their 2nd championship after profitable it in 2004. That additionally got here with the league at the verge of a hard work stoppage, a lockout that burnt up a complete season, and equivalent uncertainty hangs within the air now as a result of the coronavirus.
Questions concerning the long term had been get rid of for a party, through the Lightning and the NHL. Getting this achieved used to be a triumph of types, monetary woes however. The NHL is the primary of the 4 main North American skilled sports activities leagues to crown a champion for the reason that get started of the pandemic.
Tampa Bay’s core workforce closed out the general with a virtually poetic show of what were given the Lightning up to now during the last a number of years and months. Their new superstar in Point scored a power-play target within the first length with assists from longtime standouts Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman, key addition Coleman killed a penalty and scored on an odd-man rush in the second one, and Vasilevskiy did his process on a fairly gradual night time in web.
It used to be extra of a coronation than a problem because the dominant Lightning outshot the Stars 29-22 and gave the impression of the powerhouse they’ve been for far of the previous decade.
In the general on my own, Tampa Bay’s continual play used to be clicking and grew to become the collection round. Point’s target made it 7 for 16 during the last 5 video games to decimate the Stars, who had been undone through their loss of self-discipline and couldn’t get sufficient “Dobby” magic from goaltender Anton Khudobin.
The Stars merely ran out of gasoline after accidents piled up. Rick Bowness, an assistant for Tampa Bay for 5 years who used to be a part of their 2015 run that fell quick within the ultimate, confronted his personal unsure long term as meantime head trainer.
The Lightning did to the Stars what Chicago did to them within the ’15 ultimate, when accidents constructed up. Tampa Bay had Point and No. 2 middle Anthony Cirelli enjoying harm this time, didn’t have injured captain Steven Stamkos for nearly all the playoffs — and nonetheless survived.
The painful playoff losses seem like mile markers now — shedding 4 consecutive video games to Chicago after going up 2-1, blowing 3-2 collection leads within the Eastern Conference ultimate in 2016 and 2018, and final season’s jaw-dropping, first-round sweep through Columbus after the Lightning had tied the NHL single-season wins file and received the Presidents’ Trophy.
Coach Jon Cooper concept the angle had to exchange from in need of to overcome each and every opponent 9-Zero as a result of that’s now not real looking in playoff hockey. His staff went 12-Three in one-goal video games this postseason.
Commissioner Gary Bettman used to be readily available to provide the Lightning with the Stanley Cup precisely 200 days after his dismal if hopeful announcement that the season used to be being placed on pause with 189 video games left unplayed.
The league and avid gamers’ union labored for just about 4 months to iron out the place, how and when to play so 2020 wouldn’t sign up for 1919 and 2004 as a 12 months through which the Cup wasn’t awarded. The plan they got here up with used to be bizarre. Like the NBA, it referred to as for walling off groups from the general public for months on finish. Unlike the NBA, it referred to as for doing it in two spots — Toronto and Edmonton, whilst the U.S. grappled with spiking coronavirus circumstances in too many puts for NHL management to really feel comfy.
And it labored. After greater than 31,000 checks, there have been 0 sure coronavirus circumstances reported amongst avid gamers, coaches and team of workers within the bubbles and…