Light­ning Stanley Cup Cham­pions

The Tampa Bay Lightning are Stanley Cup champions for the second time in franchise history. The Florida team won Game Six of the NHL Finals against the Dallas Stars 2:0 and claimed the best-of-seven series 4:2.

Brayden Point put Tampa Bay on course for victory in the 13th minute, with Blake Coleman scoring the second goal (28th). Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped all 22 shots on his net in recording a shutout. Victor Hedman was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as play-off MVP.

“This is the greatest moment of our hockey lives,” Hedman rejoiced. “So many emotions! It will take months to take it all in. But we will be champions forever, we will be on this Cup forever. You imagine this your whole life.” The Swedish defenceman earned his MVP award with ten goals and twelve assists in 25 games.

The Lightning won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 2004. This time, however, they had to do without the roaring cheers of the fans. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the NHL play-offs were held in Canada without spectators. After 65 days of hotel life, they can now celebrate properly.