Tampa Bay Lightning center Steven Stamkos celebrates with the bench after his goal against the New York Rangers during the third period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs Eastern Conference finals on June 11.The Associated Press
The matchup between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup final is no surprise.
Nine months ago, they were two of the three clubs favoured by experts to reach the final round. The other was Las Vegas – probably a bit of local odds-making bias there – and the Maple Leafs were the fourth choice because everyone loves a fantasy.
The confrontation that begins at Ball Arena in Denver on Wednesday night has the ingredients for an encounter with historical implications. The Lightning hope to become the first team to win three Cups in a row since the Islanders captured four straight between 1980 and 1983. The Avalanche are finally knocking at the door after winning one round in each of the preceding three years.
Of the two, Colorado took the more linear approach. Its 56-17-9 record during the regular season was the second best in the NHL. It has gone 12-2 during the playoffs with four-game sweeps of Nashville and Edmonton.
Tampa Bay is always formidable but ended up third in the Atlantic Division behind Florida and Toronto before it put together another impressive postseason run. It eliminated the Maple Leafs, Panthers and New York Rangers even though it never had home-ice advantage.
So many things about each is compelling.
One is more battle-hardened and has the better goalie in Andrei Vasilevskiy, the other is lightning-quick (even if not the Lightning) and has the most exciting young defenceman the league has seen in many years in Cale Makar.
Both sides have elite talent – and Tampa Bay has also shown immeasurable will to get to this point again. It won twice in elimination games against the Maple Leafs and beat the Rangers in the Eastern Conference final even after losing the first two games.
‘We don’t know what’s going to happen in the next 10 to 14 days but we are going to give it our all,” Steven Stamkos, the Lightning’s long-time captain, said. “As you progress, each round gets tougher.
“Colorado is probably the best team in the league.”
His counterpart as captain in Colorado, Gabriel Landeskog, calls Tampa Bay’s Vasileyskiy the best goalie in the world. Landeskog knows it will be a struggle against the Lightning.
“The experience they have is invaluable at this time of year,” he said. “They find ways to step up at this point in the season. When the playoffs roll around they turn it on. They have a lot of things going for them, but so do we.
“We are excited. To be the best, you have to beat the best.”
Stamkos scored the tying and winning goals in Game 6 against New York. The 32-year-old centre has been excellent throughout the playoffs with nine goals and 15 points in 17 games. He gets plenty of support from the sleight-handed winger Nikita Kucherov but there is no do doubt which stirs the drink.
“He has a lot of weight on his shoulders,” Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper said. “He has grown from being a young guy to a 60-goal scorer to the leader and captain and to the person people rally around. He has got to score. He has got to lead. He has got to be the face of the franchise.
“At some point you want the light to shine on him and it has in so many different ways. I am happy for him and his legacy as captain of the team.”
In Vasilevskiy, the Lightning has the 2021 Conn Smythe Trophy winner and 2019 Vezina Trophy recipient. In his last eight series-clinching victories, including three so far this year, he has recorded six shutouts and had a .991 save percentage.
At times, he looks beatable but under pressure he becomes an impenetrable wall.
“We are going to need him more than ever,” Stamkos said. “The reason he is the best in the world is because he is unbelievable in big moments. We talk about him until we are blue in the face because he is that good.”
Colorado is led by its speedy centre Nathan MacKinnon who charges down the boards like a bull at Pamplona. MacKinnon has 11 goals and 18 points through 14 postseason games and is making a strong bid to be the MVP of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
His supporting cast includes Landeskog, Mikko Rantanen, and Makar, a 23-year-old who has piled up 22 points since the second season began. The latter was a huge difference-maker against the Oilers but this time he will encounter former Norris Trophy winner Victor Hedman on the Lightning’s back end.
With all of the high-end talent on display, this should be one of the most entertaining Cup finals in a long time.
It is a chance for one team to three-peat, and for the other to make a long-awaited breakthrough.
Marty Klinkenberg