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Lightning Book Ticket to Stanley Cup Final

September 18, 2020, 12:54 AM ET [21 Comments]
Michael Stuart
Tampa Bay Lightning Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Tampa Bay Lightning have booked their ticket, from Edmonton to Edmonton, for a berth in the Stanley Cup Final. Thanks to a hard-fought 2-1 overtime victory against the New York Islanders on Thursday night, the Bolts will have a chance at redemption for the first time since their 2015 Final loss to the Blackhawks. After sitting through heartbreaking Eastern Conference Final defeats in 2016 and 2018, this one feels particularly good.

Of course, the road to get here was paved with anything and everything but ease. The Islanders made this tremendously difficult on Jon Cooper’s Lightning. Despite dominating in virtually all of the important statistical categories, the Bolts struggled mightily to get the puck past Semyon Varlamov. New York gives up a lot in terms of quantity, but they manage to stick around in almost every game thanks to good goaltending, commitment to some kind of structure, and timely contributions from their offence.

Tonight, though? The Lightning were finally able to break through. They did it despite looking woefully tired, giving up the opening goal, missing out on a double-minor power play opportunity in overtime, and more. Another goal from Victor Hedman and extra time heroics from Anthony Cirelli were enough to propel the Bolts into the Final.

Speaking of Victor Hedman, it’s worth noting that he’s playing himself into a crowd of historically good company. His ninth goal of the playoffs, which tied the game at one early in the first period, sent him soaring into rarefied air:

People talk of Anton Khudobin’s or Brayden Point’s case for the Conn Smythe, but Victor Hedman should be right in that conversation as well.

On the other side of the spectrum, the Lightning’s second goal of the evening came from a player that has been rather quiet in the goal-scoring department. Fans and commentators had been clamoring for Anthony Cirelli to help with depth scoring (read: non-Kucherov-Point-Hedman scoring), and he did so on Thursday at the biggest possible moment. Unlike in Game Five, Tampa Bay came out on the right side of this 2-1 overtime decision.

When the time ultimately came for the Tampa to accept the Prince of Wales Trophy as Eastern Conference Champions, a special guest joined the festivities:

Regardless of whether we see Steven Stamkos in the Stanley Cup Final, it’s wonderful to see that he’s still around and supporting his teammates. In his post-game comments, Alex Killorn spoke very highly of the impact that the Captain continues to have, even as he remains sidelined with injury.

If Stamkos is going to suit up in the Final, he won’t have much additional time to heal. The Bolts will take to the ice against the well-rested Dallas Stars for Game One on Saturday. As exciting as it is to be in this position, the task before this team is tall. Let’s see what happens.

As always, thanks for reading.
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