Lightning Headed to Stanley Cup Finals After Eliminating Islanders

Lightning's winger Nikita Kucherov
Lightning's winger Nikita Kucherov. Photo by Del Mecum/CSM/REX/Shutterstock

After making it to the Stanley Cup Final and losing to the Chicago Blackhawks in 2015, the Tampa Bay Lightning are getting another chance to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup.

Tampa Bay eliminated the New York Islanders from the playoffs with a 2-1 overtime win on Thursday, winning the best-of-seven series 4-2.

The winning goal was scored by Anthony Cirelli 13:18 into overtime. Interestingly enough, every single series that the Lightning won in the playoffs this year was capped off with a win in overtime. The Islanders were the only team that the Lightning needed more than five games to defeat.

Tampa Bay has a very deep roster of talented players. They were able to make it to the cup without their injured captain Steven Stamkos, who has been out for the duration of the post-season. They were also able to defeat the Islanders with their best center Brayden Point having to take two games off.

The first goal of the game for the Lightning was scored by Victor Hedman, who has a total of nine goals in the playoffs now. Right winger Nikita Kucherov assisted on the goal, bring his points total for the playoffs up to an impressive 26.

However, the star of the game for Tampa Bay was goalkeeper Andrei Vasilveskiy, who never wavered and stopped 26 shots on goal.

Tampa Bay has been resilient and strong-minded all series, with the Islanders scoring first not just in this game, but in five of the six games they played against each other.

The last time the Lightning won a Stanley Cup Final was 2004. They will face the Dallas Stars in this year’s Stanley Cup Finals, who are making their first finals appearance since 2000.