Stars-Lightning begin battle for the Stanley Cup
The leaves are starting to change color around the NHL playoff bubble, and, at most, seven games remain before the Stanley Cup is handed out.
On Saturday night, two of the league’s southernmost teams began a Stanley Cup Final like none other in the great white north when the Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning faced off in Game 1. The Texas and Florida heat that would have been around in late May and June has been replaced by a chill in the air with teams from nontraditional markets vying for hockey’s biggest prize in the northernmost city in the NHL.
“We don’t know what the temperature is outside because we’re never outside, so it doesn’t come into play,” Stars general manager Jim Nill said from the confines of the bubble. “We’re 75, 80 degrees here all the time, so it’s a perfect, perfect environment.”
The Stars and Lightning would take any environment for a chance to win the Cup. Dallas players and coaches have been here since July 27, and Tampa Bay joined them Sept. 5 after spending six weeks in Toronto.
Dallas has been waiting since finishing off the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 of the Western Conference final Monday. Tampa Bay won the East on Thursday night by beating the New York Islanders in Game 6 of that series on Anthony Cirelli’s overtime winner. It’s a quick turnaround for the Lightning, who don’t mind that for this opportunity.
“This is unlike any other Stanley Cup Final where we’d get days rest,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “If you were going to tell me, ‘Hey Coop, you get to play in the Stanley Cup Final, you’re only going to get 45 hours to rest before the game, but you’re going to get to play in it,’ I’m taking that all day.”
The Stars coaching staff pre-scouted each potential opponent, with Rick Bowness and assistant John Stevens diving into the Lightning the past few days.
“We’ll be well-prepared,” Bowness said. “There’ll be no surprises.”
After the Lightning skated off with the Prince of Wales Trophy for winning the
East, Blake Coleman was asked about his journey from being traded in February with his pregnant wife two weeks from giving birth through to the bubble and said, “It’s been kind of crazy, but whose 2020 hasn’t been crazy?”
Russian goalies: It’s the first time in NHL history that the final features two Russian starting goaltenders. The Lightning’s Andrei Vasilevskiy played in the final as a rookie in 2015, while the Stars’ Anton Khudobin hadn’t started a playoff game until this year. Nikolai Khabibulin is the only Russian goalie to win the Cup when he did it with Tampa Bay in 2004.
Conn Smythe watch: If the Lightning win, Vasilevskiy, defenseman Victor Hedman and forwards Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov all have strong cases to earn playoff MVP honors. For the Stars, it could be Khudobin, captain Jamie Benn, or their leading scorer Miro Heiskanen.
A Elsewhere: Commissioner Gary Bettman said Saturday he wouldn’t be surprised if the next NHL season begins after the tentatively planned Dec. 1 start date. Asked about potentially not playing until the fall of 2021, Bettman anticipates a full, 82-game season and playoffs.
“How and when we do that is something that we don’t all have enough information to make any decisions,” Bettman said.