UNUSUAL SEASON SET TO END UNCONVENTIONALLY
The stage is set for the conclusion of the Stanley Cup playoffs, wrapping up this year in Edmonton, Alberta, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. After nearly two months in the NHL’S two hub cities, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Dallas Stars will meet in the Stanley Cup final — a clash of southern NHL teams.
The final marks an unusual end to an unconventional season, which paused for months amid the pandemic and then shifted to Canada for the postseason. Game 1 is today.
“It’s been hard in certain situations, being away from family and friends and your home city and sacrifices that you have had to make . ... I think every playoffs is hard, and this one hasn’t been easy, either,” Dallas captain Jamie Benn said Friday.
It will be Tampa Bay’s third time in the final and its first since 2015. Dallas, which relocated from Minnesota in 1993, was last in the final in 2000. Each franchise has one championship: Dallas in 1999 and Tampa Bay in 2004. The Stars and Lightning met twice in the regular season, with Dallas winning both games in overtime.
“It really does come down to resiliency and taking advantage of the breaks you are going to get along the way and overcoming the breaks that go against you along the way . ... Once you have a good enough team to get into the playoffs, it’s who is going to find a way,” Lightning General Manager Julien Brisebois said.
Nine of the current Tampa Bay players, including captain Steven Stamkos and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, were on the 2015 team, which lost to Chicago in six games in the final. That team also included Stars goaltender Ben Bishop and Stars interim coach Rick Bowness, who was the associate coach for Tampa Bay from 2013 to 2018.
The night before Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said, the Lightning’s coaches found themselves at a table next to the Stars’ staff. That gave Cooper and Bowness a chance to chat.
“It was good to see him, and I congratulated him,” Cooper said.
The Stars have had an impressive postseason run, having beating the Colorado Avalanche and the Vegas Golden Knights. Their season has been one of extremes, with the group firing on all cylinders one moment, then coming up stale on offense the next. What has driven their success this postseason has been their bend-but-don’t-break mentality on defense and their ability to come back. In a rather unconventional stat, the Stars are also the first team in 52 years to reach the Cup final with a negative postseason goal differential (minus-2).
Stanley Cup final
Lightning vs. Stars
Game 1: Today, 4:30 p.m., Ch. 7/39
Dallas has a young standout defenseman in Miro Heiskanen, who has a team-high 22 points in the postseason with five goals and 17 assists. The 21year-old Finn is fourth in NHL playoff scoring and has been praised by his teammates and opponents for his hockey IQ and maturity.
There is also Dallas forward Joel Kiviranta, who scored a hat trick that included the series-clinching overtime goal in Game 7 against the Avalanche, which sent the Stars to the conference finals. Goaltender Anton Khudobin — a career backup (who played much of the 2015-16 season for the AHL Gulls) filling in for Bishop, who has been deemed unfit to play — has continued to be the team’s most important player, posting stunning performances in a five-game victory over the Golden Knights.
“You definitely see the compete he has in him, the passion he has and the great teammate that he is. I wouldn’t say any of us is shocked or that this is unexpected . ... He’s been around for a Cup run; he’s seen it all,” Dallas center Tyler Seguin said. “I wouldn’t say this is unexpected, but it is obviously great to see.”
Nikita Kucherov leads the way for Tampa Bay with six goals and 20 assists. Brayden Point (nine goals, 16 assists) has 25 points this postseason despite missing two of the Lightning ’s six games against the New York Islanders in the conference finals.
Tampa Bay’s success has come without Stamkos, who hasn’t played since core muscle surgery March 2. The surgery required an approximate six- to eight-week recovery period, which was expected to end during the NHL’S pause. However, Stamkos then suffered a lower-body injury during the NHL’S Phase 2 workouts but was a full participant in practice after Tampa Bay entered the Toronto bubble in late July.
Stamkos still has yet to suit up for a game in the bubble. Brisebois said Friday that he has not been ruled out for Game 1 but is not likely to play.
Tampa Bay, which was far and away the NHL’S top regular season team last year before being swept in the first round by the Columbus Blue Jackets, now has a chance at redemption.
“What happened last year happened and there is nothing we can do about it, so we got to do our best right now,” Kucherov said. “We made it to the finals and we expect a tough game against Dallas, and just have to play the right way and I think we are going to be all right.”
Pell writes for the Washington Post.