If the end is near, someone needs to tell the Lightning

BRANDON — If this were a movie, the credits would have rolled months ago.

The story of a team’s rise through setbacks and heartbreaks to become back-toback champions before falling valiantly, maddeningly close to a third consecutive title.

Cue the theme music as they skated off the Amalie Arena ice after Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final against Colorado, never to perform together as a band of mismatched brothers again.

But tell me, what if that wasn’t really the end?

What if the Tampa Bay Lightning have a sequel to tell?

It’s not likely. The idea of another Stanley Cup run, that is.

The gap between the Lightning and the rest of the Eastern Conference has been growing narrower over the years and may finally have flipped. The Florida Panthers. The Toronto Maple Leafs. The Carolina Hurricanes. Oddsmakers say all three teams are more likely to win the conference than Tampa Bay this season.

Realistically, the idea of a team reaching the Stanley Cup final five times in nine years is unheard of in the salary-cap era of the NHL.

But are you willing to bet against the Lightning?

There is something indescribable about this group. Something born of more than just speed and skill. Something that was forged during the five years between a Stanley Cup appearance in 2015 and the disaster of the 2019 first-round exit in Columbus.

You can crunch the numbers, you can count the number of longtime contributors that walked away in the offseason, but can you dismiss a team that still has a handful of future Hall of Famers in the locker room and an instinct for the kill?

“I still think that we’re a team that will be competing for the Stanley Cup at the end of the season,” captain Steven Stamkos said. “That’s the mindset that we still have.

“Sure, there are a lot of factors that are probably going against us in terms of losing some really good players. People are going to talk about, you know, the core is getting a little older. But I still think the window is open.”

By now, you know the challenges ahead. The Lightning lost Ondrej Palat, who accumulated more postseason points than any player not named Nikita Kucherov in franchise history. They lost Ryan McDonagh, who coach Jon Cooper said was as valuable as any player on the roster on the way to the 2021 Stanley Cup. They lost Jan Rutta, who was paired with Victor Hedman on the blue line.

The salary cap has taken top-end talent while thinning the bench, too.

But the fact is, much of the core group remains intact. Stamkos, Kucherov, Hedman, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Alex Killorn have been together since that 2015 Cup final loss to Chicago. Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli, Mikhail Sergachev, Erik Cernak and Pat Maroon were here for the back-to-back titles in 2020 and ‘21.

The team picture may have some holes, but the culture is no different.