TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — When the Tampa Bay Lightning had their first chance to clinch the Stanley Cup championship in the 2020 playoff bubble,
“You’re thinking about raising the Stanley Cup, what’s it going to be like after, lifelong dreams, who’s going to get the drink out of it,” he said. “That’s called channeling your energy in the wrong direction.”
After missing their chance to sweep the Montreal Canadiens, Cooper and the Lightning were only steeled further by another dispiriting loss. In a familiar way, too: Motivated by just the latest aggravating defeat throughout the past two playoffs, the Lightning came back two nights later and won the Stanley Cup with a gritty, 1-0 win on Wednesday night.
It put an exclamation point on a second consecutive championship and third overall that was made possible by stumbles along the way. This extraordinary repeat, with each title coming in the midst of a pandemic, was filled with lessons learned.
Cooper said “it’s a journey” to win, and the mile markers along the way were losses: Game 5 of the final to Dallas 10 months ago before winning the Cup in six. Superstar
Backstopped by goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy posting another shutout in a clinching game and going undefeated after losses, Tampa Bay showed the resolve of a champion.
“There’s always big losses,” said forward Patrick Maroon, who
Listen to captain Steven Stamkos or veteran defenseman Ryan McDonagh, and it’s clear Cooper’s vision of navigating playoff hockey has filtered down to his players. There was no riding the highs or wallowing in the lows.
The Lightning instead learned to react well to each twist and turn, and the front office learned to build a juggernaut of a team in the salary cap era that has reached the semifinals five times in seven years and the final three times.
That’s no easy task, as the players who have been with Tampa since the
“There’s no doubt that today those experiences are part of our baggage,” said general manager Julien BriseBois, who wasn't afraid to
Perhaps it’s so difficult to repeat because it is so exhausting. It's only been done once since the cap era began in 2005.
What the Lightning did from the time they hoisted the Cup as
The first challenge was finding out Kucherov would not be able to play during the condensed, 56-game regular season.
Missing the benefits of home didn't matter, not after almost every NHL team became used to playing in empty or nearly empty arenas.
Losing to the Islanders in overtime in Game 6 put the Lightning in their first must-win situation in 22 months, not since facing elimination against the Blue Jackets in 2019. This time, with Montreal already waiting, Yanni Gourde scored the only goal of the night, Vasilevskiy made 18 saves and Tampa Bay found a way.
“It was all a culmination of two years of work,” Cooper said.
Tampa Bay was the overwhelming favorite against the Canadiens, who brought the underdog label and an exciting blend of young and old talent backstopped by standout goalie Carey Price.
The Lightning shrugged off the feel-good Habs,
“At the end of the day, you hate to lose,” McDonagh said. "Sometimes you hate to lose more than you like to win. That’s probably the identity of this group."
Tampa Bay never lost back-to-back playoff games in either Cup run. It's impossible to lose a best-of-seven series that way, and Tampa Bay showed why it deserves to be in the modern-day dynasty conversation.
“That’s the mentality we’ve had: Sometimes it takes four games, sometimes seven,” Stamkos said. "This group is very mature in terms of realizing the task at hand."
Much like the tail end of the pandemic in the U.S., the Lightning are likely at the end of their reign as perennial Cup contenders with roster moves on the horizon. If this run has shown anything, it's that they can lose and still find a way to win.
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Follow AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SWhyno
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