Tampa Bay Lightning

The Tampa Bay Lightning announced Thursday they'll hold a Stanley Cup championship boat parade on the Hillsborough River, which can be viewed from the Tampa Riverwalk, on Monday at 11 a.m. ET.

After the parade, the celebration of the team's second straight NHL title will move to the city's Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park at 2 p.m. ET, with musical performances featuring Vo Williams and Big Boi.

Bally Sports Sun will provide television coverage of the event for fans who can't attend.

Ready for round two?!

Boat parade and championship celebration info is here! We'll see you all Monday, July 12 ⛵️

➡️ https://t.co/8JBZWqLEiv pic.twitter.com/VhzubiRTmi

— x - Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) July 8, 2021

"Fans are encouraged to spread out on both sides of the river along the full route," the team wrote. "No outside boats will be allowed to participate in the parade as fans are invited to watch via land."

The format is similar to September's event, in which the Lightning held a boat parade followed by a championship celebration at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Raymond James Stadium after winning the 2020 title.

Perhaps that event provided some good mojo for the Bucs, who went on to win the Super Bowl in February at Raymond James Stadium, becoming the first team in NFL history to do so on their home field.

The star-studded Lightning overwhelmed the upstart Canadiens in the Final. They won the first three games of the series and, after losing Game 4 in overtime, returned home to close out the series Wednesday night with a 1-0 victory.

Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP, while the Bolts featured all of the top-five scorers in the NHL postseason, led by Nikita Kucherov with 32 points.

With three championship parades in the last 10 months, Tampa is the U.S.' current title town.

Ice from the Tampa Bay Lightning's Amalie Arena used during Game 1 of the 2021 Stanley Cup Final against the Montreal Canadiens was collected and brewed into "Champions Ice," a limited-edition beer from Coors Light to commemorate the team's second straight championship.

"We thought it'd be awesome to celebrate with the people in Tampa by creating a special batch of Coors Light for them to enjoy, created from the ice where the Lightning put all of their blood, sweat and tears into winning the championship," Coors Light marketing director Chris Steele told ESPN's Greg Wyshynski.

Coors Light, an official beer of the Lightning, is making the first beer made with the actual ice the Stanley Cup Final was played on. Coors Light has scraped ice from rink & has been brewing beer in Colorado. “Champions Ice” will be in Tampa bars & 32 oz. growlers starting 7/12. pic.twitter.com/yKsFLFoCTU

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) July 8, 2021

Tampa won the first three games of the NHL's championship series before Montreal took Game 4 to send the series back to Amalie Arena, where the Bolts closed out another title with a 1-0 win Wednesday night.

Steele explained to Wyshynski the ice was shipped overnight to the company's brewery in Colorado after Game 5 to allow for a quick turnaround, with sales set to begin July 12.

"We did an official de-ick-ifying," he said. "But in all seriousness, what is being shipped to Tampa Bay has gone through all our food and safety requirements. We took the ice, passed it through several different, incredibly effective filters. We filtered out the unhealthy stuff. But the magic and the spirit of the Tampa Bay Lightning are still in it."

Along with helping the Lightning celebrate their back-to-back championships, Steele added the beer is also aimed to help local restaurants and bars trying to recover from the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We really wanted to help support the businesses in Tampa Bay as they bounce back, and they'll also have Coors Light available for those who aren't quite up to consuming hockey rink ice," he said.

Tampa Bay's latest triumph marked the third title in franchise history with the other coming in 2004.

Bolts goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the NHL's playoff MVP.

Tampa Bay Lightning superstar forward Nikita Kucherov played through a fractured rib during the Stanley Cup Final.

Kucherov's agent, Dan Milstein, revealed the nature of the injury Thursday to Joe Smith of The Athletic.

Milstein also told Smith that Kucherov required multiple injections throughout the series after suffering the injury during the Conference Finals on a cross-check by New York Islander defenseman Scott Mayfield in Game 6:

Not sure if it contributed to the injury but Kucherov cross-checked earlier that shift by Mayfield in corner. Was a bit slow to get up there too pic.twitter.com/7Hp1MA9PAq

— NHL Review (@nhl_review) June 24, 2021

Despite the injury, Kucherov managed to play in Tampa's Game 7 win over the Isles, and he was in the lineup for all five Stanley Cup Final games as the Lightning beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 in the series to win their second consecutive Stanley Cup.

The 28-year-old Kucherov was the driving force behind Tampa's offensive success during the playoffs, as he appeared in all 23 games and led the team with 32 points. His 24 assists were also tops, while his eight goals were tied with Steven Stamkos and Alex Killorn for second on the team behind Brayden Point's 14.

Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP thanks to his 16-7 record, 1.90 goals-against average, .937 save percentage and five shutouts, but Kucherov was a strong candidate as well and may have won the award most other years with the numbers he put up.

Making Kucherov's postseason performance even more impressive is the fact that he didn't appear in a single regular-season game in 2020-21 while recovering from a hip injury.

Getting Kucherov back for the playoffs was huge for Tampa's Stanley Cup chances, as he has been one of the most dynamic offensive players in the NHL over the past five years.

Entering this season, Kucherov posted four straight seasons with at least 85 points, including 100 in 2017-18 and a career-high 128 in 2018-19.

Kucherov set career highs in goals (41), assists (87) and points (128) in 2018-19 en route to winning the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP, as well as the Art Ross Trophy as the league's top scorer.

After not missing a step in his return from injury during the playoffs and battling through a rib injury to put up huge numbers, Kucherov is poised to return to MVP contention in 2021-22 provided he can stay healthy.

Kucherov set career highs in goals (41), assists (87) and points (128) in 2018-19 en route to winning the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP, as well as the Art Ross Trophy as the league's top scorer.

After not missing a step in his return from injury during the playoffs and battling through a rib injury to put up huge numbers, Kucherov is poised to return to MVP contention in 2021-22 provided he can stay healthy.

Tom Brady, who famously tossed the Lombardi Trophy across water to another boat during the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Super Bowl celebration in February, responded to a message from the NHL's Stanley Cup Twitter account after the Tampa Bay Lightning secured their second straight title Wednesday.

Idk…everything feels a bit lighter after some tequilla 😂 https://t.co/9l5mL8saoq

— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) July 8, 2021

Brady led the Bucs to a 31-9 blowout victory over the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV, and the franchise opted for a water-based celebration rather than a traditional parade.

The seven-time Super Bowl champion proceeded to deliver a strike to tight end Cameron Brate on a moderately long throw across the water without losing the trophy or poking anybody's eye out, so it was no harm, no foul.

The most impressive pitch and catch of @TomBrady's career 🤯🏆

(🎥: @abcactionnews / @nflnetwork) pic.twitter.com/s88StyvLiE

— NFL GameDay (@NFLGameDay) February 10, 2021

Brady was later shown on video needing some assistance as the celebration moved back to land, something he jokingly blamed on avocado tequila:

Noting to see her...just litTle avoCado tequila https://t.co/vew2otBw5T

— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) February 10, 2021

The Lightning continued the city's title-winning ways by clinching another Cup with a Game 5 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night.

Brady, who's got a little free time on his hands between his appearance in Capital One's The Match on Tuesday and the start of Bucs training camp July 24, sounds ready to help Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Co. with their Cup-tossing technique if called upon.

The future Hall of Famer might just need a couple of drinks first, especially since the NHL's championship trophy weighs 34.5 pounds compared to the seven-pound Lombardi Trophy.

During their run to the Stanley Cup Final, the Montreal Canadiens pulled off several upsets. They overcame adversity and staged unlikely comebacks. However, this time was different. The Tampa Bay Lightning were far too dominant.

The Lightning successfully completed their quest to repeat as Stanley Cup champions Wednesday night, beating the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 in Game 5 at Amalie Arena. After winning the Cup once in its first 27 seasons as an NHL franchise, Tampa Bay has now won two in two seasons.

Not only that, but the Lightning's back-to-back Cup wins also came less than a year apart. They won it in September in the NHL bubble, defeating the Dallas Stars in a season that had been paused because of the coronavirus pandemic.

This time, Tampa Bay's fans got to join in on the celebration as soon as the final horn sounded. And even better for them, the Cup-clinching victory came on the Lightning's home ice.

Here's a look back at the final game of this year's Stanley Cup Final.

                 

Notable Stats

Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy: 22 saves, zero goals allowed

Tampa Bay forward Ross Colton: one goal, one shot

Tampa Bay defenseman Ryan McDonagh: one assist, one shot

Tampa Bay defenseman David Savard: one assist, two shots

Montreal goaltender Carey Price: 29 saves, one goal allowed

              

Highlights

There wasn't much offense in Game 5. With Vasilevskiy and Price as the goaltenders, that's what many expected this series to look like. It wasn't always the case, especially as the Lightning dominated early on, but the final contest of the series met those expectations.

Because of how strong Vasilevskiy has been in the net, Tampa Bay wasn't going to need much offense to close out this series—especially considering that the 26-year-old goaltender continually plays his best in the biggest moments of a playoff series.

The only puck that got into the net Wednesday night came off the stick of the rookie Colton, who had scored three previous goals this postseason but none since Game 5 of the Lightning's second-round series against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Colton redirected a puck in front of the net past Price, putting Tampa Bay ahead with six minutes, 33 seconds to go in the second period:

THERE IT IS!

THE LIGHTNING BREAK THE ICE IN GAME 5. #GoBolts | #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/iVeWIE6RXL

— NBC Sports Hockey (@NBCSportsHockey) July 8, 2021

According to the NHL, Colton is only the seventh rookie to score a Stanley Cup-clinching goal—the New Jersey Devils' Mike Rupp (2003) is the only other player to have done that in the past 90 years.

But this series belonged to Vasilevskiy. He had a tremendous postseason, and he took his game to another level on the biggest stage. Over the five-game series against the Canadiens, Vasilevskiy allowed only eight goals and collected 132 saves.

That impressive performance earned Vasilevskiy the Conn Smythe Trophy. He's the 14th goaltender to win the award and the first since the Los Angeles Kings' Jonathan Quick in 2012.

Andrei Vasilevskiy is the 2021 Conn Smythe Trophy Winner. #GoBolts | #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/5dCFKzcyUv

— NBC Sports Hockey (@NBCSportsHockey) July 8, 2021

Vasilevskiy ensured that the one goal the Lightning scored Wednesday night would be enough. The Canadiens pulled Price late, and they had the puck behind the Tampa Bay net in the closing seconds.

However, the Lightning's defense clamped down and prevented the Habs from getting off a final shot, clearing the puck to the other end of the ice. Before the Canadiens could bring it back down, the clock ran out and Tampa Bay had secured another Cup victory:

STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS!#StanleyCup | #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/MIN764Thu5

— NBC Sports Hockey (@NBCSportsHockey) July 8, 2021

"[Vasilevskiy's] compete level is as high as it can be," Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov said, per Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press. "I remember him when he was 16. He was always the guy that cares about the game and wants to be better and he wants to be No. 1. And, as we can see, he is."

It hadn't been too long since a team had completed a Stanley Cup repeat, as the Pittsburgh Penguins won it in both 2016 and 2017. However, it's been much longer since a team has had a three-peat. The most recent team to do it was the New York Islanders, who won four straight Cups from 1980-83.

With how impressive the Lightning were throughout the postseason, it's only fitting that their final victory was one of their most dominant. And it showed exactly why Tampa Bay again made it to this point.  

For Tampa Bay Lightning players and fans, Wednesday's Game 5 win against the Montreal Canadiens to clinch their second consecutive Stanley Cup will set off months of celebrations before moving on to the 2021-22 season.

General manager Julien BriseBois won't have the luxury of participating in extended festivities. On July 17, all NHL teams (except Vegas) must submit their protection lists for the Seattle expansion draft. Lightning management will have to prepare that list and participate in leaguewide trade discussions before that day. Almost immediately, BriseBois will have to consider what the future of his team will look like.

Through a combination of fortunate circumstances and brilliant maneuvering, BriseBois was able to build a playoff roster that, as Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Dougie Hamilton put it, was "$18 million over the cap or whatever they are." That won't be repeated in 2021-22. 

"If 2020 was the first day of school, 2021 would be the last day," head coach Jon Cooper told the media on July 3. "I think we all know the realities of the sport. Our team's been well-documented. Finally getting over the hump last year and then remarkably being able to stick together for one more crack at it. I don't see the circumstances of what happened last year happening again, and I know the players don't see that."

In some capacity, the Lightning will look different next season. But while it will be the end of an era, the Lightning remain well-positioned to maintain contender status for the foreseeable future. 

           

The Core Is Here to Stay

Thanks to one brilliant salary dump involving the Ottawa Senators and the opportunity, even if unfortunate, to stash Nikita Kucherov on long-term injured reserve, the Lightning were able to manage the salary cap and keep most of its 2020 Stanley Cup roster intact.

That will not be the case for next season. Even after assuming that unrestricted free agents Blake Coleman, Barclay Goodrow and David Savard will sign elsewhere this summer, the Lightning will still enter the offseason roughly $5 million over the salary cap with a few roster spots still to fill, per CapFriendly. Change is coming in Tampa Bay. Alex Killorn, Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Yanni Gourde are among those whose futures are uncertain. 

"The team knows we're probably not going to be together next year." — Jon Cooper 👀#ItsOn | #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/dgLHBccexU

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) July 8, 2021

But unless BriseBois actively chooses to make a major extraction, the nucleus of the team will remain intact. Nikita Kucherov (28) and Brayden Point (25) are under contract next season at relative bargain prices and should be elite contributors for a number of years, while Anthony Cirelli (23) is a capable second-line center. Victor Hedman (30) and Ryan McDonagh (32) are signed long term, while one, if not both, of Eric Cernak (24) and Mikhail Sergachev (23) will stick around to continue to give the team a strong top three on defense.

And in goal, Andrei Vasilevskiy (26) is signed through 2028 and is finally living up to his potential, posting a Vezina-caliber season in 2021 before winning the Conn Smythe trophy this postseason.

Notably missing from this list is Steven Stamkos. Signed through 2024, it wouldn't be wise to predict the team captain's departure. Now 31 and relegated to the wing, he's still a phenomenal goal scorer, but it's fair to wonder, as contract extensions become necessary for Point and others, whether he might be a reluctant cap casualty before his contract expires. For the 2021-22 season, at least, he probably remains an important piece of the core.

The Lightning will inevitably lose a few players who are useful, and BriseBois might need to put some extra effort into avoiding a bigger loss in the Seattle expansion draft. Barring something unforeseen, the team's main drivers should be exempt from the clearing-out effort.

          

The Continuing Developmental Pipeline

In a salary-cap league, losing capable players is the nature of the beast for the top teams. Cup winners can face a sharp decline when the team either overpays to keep peripheral players or fails to replace them.

No team has displayed more ability to recycle cheap depth over the past five seasons than the Lightning. One contributing factor is the well-thought-out additions of experienced NHL players. BriseBois intelligently brought in Barclay Goodrow and Blake Coleman in trades, knowing they would be able to contribute over multiple seasons on frugal contracts rather than as pure rentals. Pat Maroon will play his third straight season on a $900K contract next year.

The benefit of building a strong team is that good players looking to win will give up money to join and remain. BriseBois will likely scavenge the free-agent and trade markets for more cheap depth this summer. 

But the bigger boon for Tampa Bay has been its ability to develop from within. Take a look at the many skaters from the 2020 and 2021 Stanley Cup teams who spent meaningful time with their AHL affiliate in Syracuse.

For every Nikita Kucherov or Victor Hedman who is destined to seamlessly integrate into the NHL, there are a lot more prospects for whom making the NHL is not an inevitability. The developmental setups of a given NHL organization can make or break many careers.

The Lightning have proved the best in the league at taking nondescript late-round draft picks and undrafted free agents and slowly building them into players on cheap contracts who are capable of producing in the NHL. For a contending team that will inevitably move draft picks and prospects in pursuit of winning, turning straw into gold at the minor league level, as Tampa Bay has, is prudent.

Talent identification is a big part of that process, but so too is making sure the AHL affiliate is prepared. Syracuse head coach Benoit Groulx has done a phenomenal job the past five seasons and should be on the radars of other NHL teams for a bigger role.

The Lightning have more talent coming through the pipeline. Ross Colton and Mathieu Joseph, who played depth roles for the Lightning during the 2021 Cup win, are deserving of bigger roles next season. Potentially joining them from the AHL are Alexander Barre-Boulet, Boris Katchouk, Otto Somppi and Taylor Raddysh. All four have been marinating in the AHL for a few seasons and have legitimate potential as depth forwards. On defense, 2017 first-round pick Cal Foote has already demonstrated in 35 NHL games that he's up to the standard.

Tampa Bay has no game-breakers on the way, but it already has enough foundational pieces for the immediate future. A few positive contributors who can fill in the gaps are sufficient. 

            

The Lightning Are Here to stay

The Lightning are not Teflon. They got a number of breaks last offseason that aren't going to be replicated this time around. For BriseBois, the ambition will be to keep Gourde, Palat, Sergachev and Cernak. The loss of any of those four will especially hurt.

Regardless, the team is set up well to keep the momentum going. The players most intrinsic to its success the past two seasons will undoubtedly remain, and the Lightning have a track record for developing unheralded prospects into NHL contributors.

Head coach Jon Cooper, arguably the best in the business, is also a major asset who gets the most out of players and has proved his ability to adjust to circumstances and gameplay around the players available to him.

Management will have to roll with the punches this offseason, and it's unlikely the roster will be as stacked as it was in 2021. In fact, it might even take a season or two for the team to recover from the depletion of draft picks and roster losses.

Still, the Lightning remain a healthy organization with much of its backbone still young enough and likely to hang around for years to come. The sun isn't setting. As long as the team sticks to what has made it successful the previous five seasons, the Lightning should be in the mix for the Stanley Cup again next season and will have years beyond to build a new cycle of contention under Kucherov, Point and Vasilevskiy.

Tampa Bay Lightning superstar Nikita Kucherov took aim at Montreal Canadiens supporters during a Bud Light-fueled press conference following the Bolts' Game 5 win Wednesday night to clinch their second straight Stanley Cup championship.

"The fans in Montreal acted like they won the Stanley Cup last game," Kucherov said about the celebration after the Habs' Game 4 win. "Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Their final was last series"

"The fans in Montreal acted like they won the Stanley Cup last game. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Their final was last round."

Just an incredible press conference from Nikita Kucherov here.#ItsOn | #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/rmaNrCQVHB

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) July 8, 2021

Kucherov was nothing short of spectacular throughout the Lightning's title run. He tallied 32 points (eight goals and 24 assists) in 23 playoff games, including 19 power-play points as the team converted 32.4 percent of its opportunities on the man advantage.

His availability for the postseason was a point of contention all year, though.

The 28-year-old Russian winger underwent hip surgery in December after Tampa's Stanley Cup triumph last season, which allowed the franchise to place him on long-term injured reserve and avoid his $9.5 million cap hit to remain under the salary cap for the 2020-21 campaign.

Cap rules don't apply for the playoffs, however, so the Lightning were able to activate him before the opening round without any violations or being forced to bench any key players to create cap space.

In June, Tampa Bay general manager Julien BriseBois said the NHL reviewed the situation and cleared the Bolts of any wrongdoing.

"I know [the NHL] investigated the Nikita Kucherov one, and we have to be able to justify the surgery, the rehab time, the return to play clearance to make sure that everything was done according to the rules and according to the circumstances, and those were the cards we were dealt," BriseBois told reporters.

The Lightning face a similar problem heading into the offseason—they're already a projected $3.5 million over the 2021-22 salary cap with only 17 of the necessary 20 players, per CapFriendly—so how they navigate the situation will be watched closely over the summer once again.

Meanwhile, it's hard to blame Canadiens fans for their hearty celebration after Game 4. They made a highly unexpected run to the NHL's championship series and beat the star-studded reigning champions in overtime on home ice. That's reason enough to go wild despite the fact they were still staring down a 3-1 series deficit at the time.

Kucherov's comments will surely stick in the minds of the Habs and their supporters heading into next season and beyond, though. He'll be public enemy No. 1 every time he enters the Bell Centre from this point forward.

Tampa Bay Lightning forward Alex Killorn said he was aiming to play in the final two games of the Stanley Cup Final despite suffering a broken fibula in Game 1.

Killorn told reporters he recently underwent surgery, but his return plans were rendered moot as the Bolts shut out the Montreal Canadiens in Game 5 on Wednesday night to win their second straight NHL championship.

The 31-year-old was a key contributor for the Lightning before the injury. He tallied 17 points (eight goals and nine assists) in 19 playoff games, an uptick from his regular-season scoring rate of 33 points (15 goals and 18 assists) across 56 appearances.

Teammate Blake Coleman praised Killorn for his wide-ranging impact before Game 5 but also credited those who stepped into larger roles in his absence during the Final:

He's got his fingerprints all over this team. He's a great penalty killer. He plays on our first power-play unit. He's great 5-on-5. Good puck possession guy. He's physical. There's not many things he doesn't do for us. We certainly miss him when he's not in the lineup. Thankfully we've got a next-man-up mentality and a lot of depth in this room. Guys like [Mathieu Joseph] have stepped in and done a great job. There's certainly areas where his presence is missed, but it's just next man up.

Ross Colton, one of those depth players Coleman was referring to, stepped up in the biggest way possible by scoring the only goal in Tampa's 1-0 win Wednesday.

Make no mistake, the Lightning are built on star power, led by Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Brayden Point and Conn Smythe Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy, but it usually takes quite a bit of secondary scoring to win the Cup, and the Bolts had that too.

While all of Tampa's key players are under contract for next season, they could face some difficult decisions elsewhere on the roster in the offseason. They're projected to be $3.5 million over the salary cap for 2021-22 with only 17 of the 20 roster slots filled, per CapFriendly.

Killorn, who's under contract for two more seasons with a $4.45 million cap hit, could be one of the players whose name is bandied about in trade rumors as the Lightning work to get under the cap.

Even with some necessary moves on the horizon, Tampa Bay will likely enter next season as the favorite to take home a third straight Stanley Cup.

It's hard to win the Stanley Cup. It's even more difficult to win it two years in a row. However, the Tampa Bay Lightning are a special team, one that's going to go down in history as one of the best of the salary-cap era.

On Wednesday, the Lightning successfully completed their Cup defense, beating the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final at Amalie Arena. After winning the first three games of the series, Tampa Bay fell on the road in Game 4 but bounced back in a big way.

In case you have forgotten, the Lightning won 62 regular-season games during the 2018-19 campaign before getting swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Since then, Tampa Bay has been unbeatable in the postseason, as The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun pointed out:

The 62-win Lightning of 2018-19 got swept by Columbus in the first round. Since then, Tampa Bay has won eight straight playoff series, never trailed in a series, never lost back-to-back playoff games en route to winning back-to-back Stanley Cup championships.
That’s something.

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) July 8, 2021

Prior to last season, the Lightning had won the Stanley Cup only once in their first 27 seasons as an NHL franchise. Now, they have won two in less than a year. They beat the Dallas Stars in September in the NHL bubble once the season resumed amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Perhaps the Lightning have had a good luck charm: Tom Brady. Tampa Bay has won back-to-back Stanley Cups since Brady joined the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who also won the Super Bowl earlier this year. And it isn't the first time Brady has brought good fortune to a city:

When Tom Brady was in Boston as a NE Patriot (2000-2019). Pats won 6 SB's, Red Sox won 4 WS, Celtics and Bruins each won one championship. Since signing with Tampa Bay in March 2020, Bucs have won a SB, Rays the ALCS, and the Lightning 2 SC's. The GOAT of good luck charms

— Squire Barnes (@sbarnesglobal) July 8, 2021

One of the biggest reasons for the Lightning's success this postseason was the play of goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who was the recipient of the Conn Smythe Trophy. The 26-year-old allowed only eight total goals in the five-game series, while recording 132 saves.

After Vasilevskiy ended the Stanley Cup Final with his fifth shutout of the postseason, there were plenty of people on Twitter giving Tampa Bay's goaltender the praise that he deserved:

Vasy wins the Conn Smythe! So well deserved! The biggest of games he posts shutouts! #GoBolts https://t.co/PwEStj8yYa

— Linda Cohn (@lindacohn) July 8, 2021

Just rename the Conn Smythe the Vasy Trophy lol

Dude was unstoppable. No way Lightning win the #StanleyCup without him.

Brick. Wall. #GoBolts

— John Sabol (@John_Sabol) July 8, 2021

Andrei Vasilevskiy has shutouts in the last five #TBLightning series-clinching games. Incredible.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) July 8, 2021

The Lightning were so impressive this postseason that they may even be converting fans of other teams. Professional wrestling legend and WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash, who is a known fan of the Detroit Red Wings, clearly liked what he saw from Tampa Bay:

So should I open a Lightning hockey town bar in Tampa? I've lived 25 years now in Florida. I'm wings till I die. But Tampa out skates everyone and goaltending is incredible. Florida is the hockey state. WTF?

— Kevin Nash (@RealKevinNash) July 8, 2021

When the Lightning had a 3-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final, a lot of attention was garnered by Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, who suggested that the team should lose Game 4 in Montreal so that it could win the Cup on its home ice in Game 5. Of course, that's a risky thing to do. Momentum can easily shift in a series.

As it turned out, though, that's how things unfolded. The Canadiens extended their season with a Game 4 win, but the Lightning rebounded to provide Tampa with a championship celebration. That resulted in Castor chiming back in after the victory:

Now didn't I tell you all that winning at home would feel great?! #GoBolts #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/QHpV2soIkG

— Jane Castor (@JaneCastor) July 8, 2021

For now, the Lightning will continue to celebrate their latest Stanley Cup victory. But at some point, their focus will shift to the 2021-22 season. They will be looking to become the first team to win the Cup in three consecutive years since the New York Islanders, who won four straight from 1980-83.

Considering how strong this Tampa Bay team is, it has a strong chance to do just that.

It was almost as if it was scripted. 

With the Tampa Bay Lightning trying to clinch the Stanley Cup on their home ice Wednesday night in Game 5 of the Final after being unable to celebrate with fans, friends or family one year prior in the bubble. The only two players on the ice who were not in the bubble made sure the Bolts would get that celebration. 

Tampa Bay's David Savard slid a pass to Ross Colton in the crease. Colton beat Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price to give the home team a 1-0 lead in the second period.

It might not seem like much, but a 1-goal margin is more than enough for the Lightning and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the postseason MVP. 

"You knew after that first goal that Vasy was going to shut the door," Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos said.

Just ask the New York Islanders, who lost 1-0 in Game 7 of the semifinal round. This team is strong enough to make it stand up and the Habs were gassed. 

The Cup was presented. Stamkos lifted it as a packed Amalie Arena crowd roared. 

"We just went back-to-back," forward Patrick Maroon said. "That's (expletive) amazing." 

Amazing doesn't begin to describe this Tampa Bay team. The term historically great might be more applicable. 

They play a suffocating brand of hockey and they can win in a variety of ways. They didn't use their vaunted power play, they didn't get a hat trick from a star, but Vasilevskiy, pitched a shutout — his fifth straight in a series clinching game — and two role players came up big when it mattered the most.

This isn't like the Pittsburgh Penguins of 2016 and 2017. This isn't the Los Angeles Kings of 2012 and 2014. And this Lightning team might be better than the Chicago Blackhawks dynasty. 

Tampa Bay has long been the best team in the salary cap era but didn't have much to show for it until last year. They passed the eye test, they stifled their opponents in the regular season, won the President's Trophy in 2019 and they regularly went deep into the postseason, even making it to the Cup Final in 2015 and going to the Eastern Conference Final in 2016 and 2018. 

Two years ago, they were the most loaded team in hockey but they were embarrassingly swept out of the first round by the Columbus Blue Jackets. 

So maybe that was the key for this Bolts team, that is largely homegrown, has stayed mostly intact throughout the last five seasons and has been led by the same coach: They had to learn to handle failure before they could learn to handle prosperity. 

What the Lightning have done well is mining talents outside of the first round and working the trade market for undervalued talents. It's a very Moneyball type of approach, but with the money. They are $18 million over the salary cap, after all. 

Brayden Point and Alex Killorn were third-round picks in their respective draft years. Ondrej Palat was a seventh-round pick. Yanni Gourde was undrafted, as was his linemate Barclay Goodrow, who was acquired ahead of the 2020 trade deadline. Blake Coleman came over at the deadline from the New Jersey Devils. At the time, New Jersey general manager Tom Fitzgerald said he couldn't have guessed that Coleman would turn into a power forward who averages 20 goals a season, but Coleman has been an impactful player on two straight Cup teams. 

Even Nikita Kucherov, who is only the third player in NHL history to post 30 or more points in back-to-back postseasons (Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemeuix are the other two), was drafted in the second round.

The team tanked for Stamkos and drafted him first overall in 2008. A year later, the club selected defenseman Victor Hedman second overall. In 2012 they drafted Vasilevskiy in the first round. They developed their core talent and convinced Stamkos to stick around for a while. 

The player that set up the Colton goal was defenseman Ryan McDonagh, arguably the best Tampa Bay skater in the Final round. The former New York Rangers captain was traded to the Lightning in 2018, triggering a rebuild on Broadway. 

Former general manager Steve Yzerman began the building process and current GM Julien BrisBois picked up where Yzerman left off. Jon Cooper, the longest-tenured coach in the NHL, has integrated these players into the lineup masterfully. It's a blueprint that other organizations should strive to emulate but it's not that easy. Some of it is luck and some of it is smarts. For every draft pick that made them look smart there was one that didn't quite pan out. 

But management did a fantastic job of filling in the gaps with the right players when they were needed. 

The strange pandemic-shortened season made their title defense even more difficult. But in the end, the scrappy Habs could not match the talent level of such a deep team. They were a great story with a great goalie who deserved a shot at hockey glory. That goalie, Carey Price, tried to shoulder the blame saying he felt that he didn't play well enough at the start of the series. 

Montreal captain Shea Weber interrupted him to dispel that notion. 

"I don't think that's the case," Weber said in his postgame Zoom press conference. "I think we weren't good enough in front of Carey. They're here for a reason, they're a heckuva team. They were better than us in the end."

The Lightning is the best team of the salary cap era and they could very well win a third one next season. It's becoming more and more difficult with the flat cap and another expansion team, the Seattle Kraken. And while this management team always seems to have an answer for everything, the entire team knows the reality of the cap situation. It's something they have talked openly about throughout this postseason run. 

Tyler Johnson will likely be gone, as will Coleman and Goodrow.  

"It's so hard to win the Stanley Cup. And then you do it two years in a row, you deserve to go down in history," Stamkos said. "And this group, no matter what happens from here on out, this group is going to be etched in history forever and that's pretty f-ing special. I'm so proud of the guys. You can't soak it in yet. It's so fresh. It's so new. You don't even realize what's going to happen. We won the Stanley Cup and we still have the Stanley Cup. That's just amazing." 

After Stamkos and Hedman took their laps with the Cup, it was handed off to Savard, the only veteran in the group who had never won one in the past. It was fitting. 

It was exactly how management drew it up.