No matter the sport, winning consecutive championships is rare because it is so difficult. Injuries, egos, contract demands and NHL pay limits often hamper second titles.
However, Tampa Bay Lightning is close to achieving something even more difficult: winning three consecutive Stanley Cups. The two-time champions defeated the Rangers 2-1 to win the Eastern Conference finals on Saturday and return to the Stanley Cup finals, where they face Colorado Avelanch on Wednesday in Denver.
No team has competed in three consecutive Stanley Cup finals by the Edmonton Oilers led by Wayne Gretzky and Marc Messier in the mid-1980s, and the Islanders were the last team to win three consecutive Cups. when they won four consecutive titles 40 years ago from 1980 to 1984.
Lightning may not attract the national attention of some of the clubs in the major markets of the league or its Canadian teams. They play in Tampa, a tourist destination in Florida, where a star named Tom Brady, a Buccaneers quarterback, grabs most of the sports titles.
But quietly and empathetically, Lightning built a dynasty under coach John Cooper and their captain, Stephen Stamkos, who was at the heart of the team’s success. Now 32, the Toronto suburban center has played his entire 14-year career in Tampa and helped build a permanent contender.
With 522 career goals, including playoffs, he is just two boys named Ovechkin and Crosby among the active players. He was also the glue that helped keep his senior teammates together, including his teammates Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat. Tampa Bay’s list includes players with a combined 204 playoff games, the most from each team.
Stamkos added to his stellar career when he scored two Lightning goals, including the winner of the match at the end of the third period on Saturday to finish the Rangers.
“It’s great to score a few goals in a huge game like this, but if I didn’t score and we won, I would be just as happy,” he said after the game.
Stamkos has scored nine goals so far in the NHL playoffs, but Lightning won the series convincingly, dominating the Rangers in almost every aspect of the game. Tampa Bay overcame a two-game deficit and won the last four games of the series, beating Rangers 12-5. The lightning made several mistakes that left the Rangers’ highest game off the ice. The Young Rangers, in the playoffs for the first time in five seasons, have failed to score in the last four games of the series.
On Saturday, the result and the shots on goal were deceptively close, and the statistics would have been more incorrect if it were not for the brilliant game of Rangers goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin. The Lightning had much better chances to score, and the Rangers, who won all five elimination games in the playoffs, looked discouraged after a discouraging loss in Game 5 in New York on Thursday.
As Shesterkin desperately tried to keep the Rangers out of the game, his colleague, Tampa Bay goalkeeper Andrei Vassilevsky, was barely tested. He stopped 20 shots and won his eighth consecutive clinching, six of which were ruled out.
Tampa Bay have already won 11 consecutive playoff series, something Cooper attributes to the continued movement of his players.
“No one will blame them if the players give up,” he said. “Hey, you won one, you won two and you came back and went for third.”
Lightning beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in the first round and swept the Florida Panthers afterwards. Then Rangers expanded them in the first two games of the series in New York.
But Lightning showed why and how they continue to win championships. They found support when the series moved to Tampa, improving with each game and being a far sharper team on Saturday. They skated fast, made clear passes, and grabbed wrong passes past the Rangers. They dominated the first period, trying 25 shots, while Rangers managed 12.
Shesterkin kept Tampa at bay, even cleaning his own mess. After an attempt to clear the puck was intercepted by Riley Nash of Lightning, he stopped the climax by Patrick Maroon. He used his right foot to stop Pierre-Édouard Bellemare’s tip and refused Anthony Cirelli to break away.
In the second period, Shesterkin robbed Kucherov, Tampa Bay’s top scorer, when he tried to throw the puck past him.
But after all of Shesterkin’s frantic stops, Tampa Bay scored after Stamkos ran past the injured Ryan Straw and struck his wrist from the top of the circle.
Rangers finally had a chance to play power in the third period when Corey Perry hit Philip Chittil in the face with a stick. Tampa blocked all Rangers’ shots.
Rangers finally scored in another powerful game when Stamkos was called in for arrest and Frank Vatrano fired in a line that slipped past Vassilevski.
Whatever momentum the Rangers gained, he disappeared 21 seconds later. Stamkos, leaving the penalty area, rushed to the net, took a pass from Kucherov and shot the puck. Shesterkin grabbed it with his glove, but the puck bounced and Stamkos’s foot hit it into the net. After the examination, the goal remained.
Now Tampa Bay will face Avalanche, who have had enough time to consider their next opponent. They finished the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Finals nearly a week ago. They were the best team in the West in the regular season with 119 points and have 12-2 so far in the playoffs, including against the Nashville Predators and Oilers.
Colorado conceded just 40 goals against Tampa’s 41, but Avalanche scored significantly more often, leading all teams with 65 goals to 52 for Lightning.
They are led by Nathan McKinnon, the fast, creative center and defender Cale McCarthy, whom Wayne Gretzky recently named the best double-sided player after Bobby Orr.
Colorado has won both games against Tampa Bay this season with one goal each time. But maybe without Nazem Kadri and Andrew Coliano, they both have injured fingers. It is also unclear whether goalkeeper Darcy Kumper will start match 1.
Rangers will have all summer to heal their injuries and think about how they managed to lose a two-game lead against defending Stanley Cup champions. Gerard Galant, the Rangers coach, said the grueling schedule – 20 playoffs in 40 days – was draining his club.
The sting of the Stanley Cup run, which ended too soon, will continue.
“I’m empty,” said Rangers center Mika Zibanedjad, who then paused. “I don’t want it to end.”
Cooper, the coach of Lightning, can’t believe this is not for his team.
“When you grow up in Canada, you always dream of having your name in the Stanley Cup,” he said. “And to get there for the first time was a dream come true. Getting there for the second time next year was like a dream, as if there was no way back. And to go a third time is unthinkable. “
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