By Mike Rifkin
On Wednesday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning successfully defended their Stanley Cup Championship defeating the Montreal Canadiens in 5 games. The Lightning is the first team since the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016, and 17 win back-to-back cups. Here are my top 5 reasons why the Lightning have gone back to back
1. Andrei Vasilevskiy: He is the best goalie globally, and this playoff run cemented that fact. Vasilevskiy went 16-7 with a 1.90 Goals Against Average, a .937 save percentage, and five shutouts that were good enough for him to rightfully be named Conn Smythe as playoff MVP. 4 of these five shutouts came in clinching scenarios for the Lightning. If they had a defensive breakdown, the Big Cat was there to save the day.
2. Jon Cooper: I don’t feel Cooper gets enough credit for his job in Tampa. He gets the Steve Kerr treatment in the NBA. He has changed the way this team plays, they used to be all about offense and try to beat you 6-5, and they can still do that, but they can also win 1-0 like they did to win the Cup. If The Lightning were a song, they would be Anyway You Want It by Journey because they play fast, physical, and intelligent hockey. Jon Cooper also utilized the last change at home very well by getting the Brayden Point line away from Phillip Danault’s line. Cooper in before their first Cup brought in Pat Maroon, who had just won a Cup with the Blues, he had coached Maroon in the NAHL, and the two won a championship together; Maroon was a big part of the Lightning’s success, as was my following reason.
3. The 3rd Line: The Lightning has a ton of stars Brayden Point, Vasilevskiy, Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman, etc… Their job is to shut down opposing teams’ top lines, and they do that and then some. His third line puts Yanni Gourde centering Blake Coleman, and Barclay Goodrow might have been the most impactful line. They play hard and chip in offensively in the playoffs. Gourde and Coleman combined for nine goals and 18 points and played in all 23 games; Goodrow played in 18 games chipped in 2 goals and 6 points. Goodrow and Coleman teamed up for what I thought was the backbreaking goal of the entire series in game 2, when they forced a turnover in the neutral zone, went in on a two on one and scored with two-tenths of a second remaining in the second period in a game Montreal was thoroughly outplaying Tampa.
4. Special Teams: If a team wants to go on a deep playoff run, they need good special teams, and Tampa is the same way these playoffs their power play was at 32.4 percent. Yes, with the star power they have, the power play should be good, but their execution is what makes it truly special. The penalty kill was also extraordinary; finishing the playoffs at 84.1%, they blocked a ton of shots, and if they got through, Vasilevskiy was there to save the day.
5. Management: Whether it was Steve Yzerman who put most of this group together or Julien BriseBois who has put on the finishing touches, the Lightning has done a terrific job of drafting and developing players. They also don’t get too fancy with trades. Last year, it was Coleman and Goodrow; this year, David Savard had the primary assist on the winning goal in game five and was a big boost on an already excellent defense core. They know who to target, and they fit how the team plays.
The best thing to happen to this team occurred in 2019 when the Lightning tied for most wins and was swept in the first round by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Some people will complain about the team being over the cap for the playoffs after Kucherov was out all season after a hip surgery. The problem you have shouldn’t be with Tampa; it should be with the league. Either way, the Lightning have won back-to-back Cups, but now changes will be made as the Seattle Kraken are set to debut, and Tampa has to get under the salary cap until June. They will be back-to-back champs because Lightning struck twice.
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