Tampa Bay Lightning won the 2020 edition of the Stanley Cup, defeating Dallas Stars 2-0 in Game 6 of the Final at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Monday.
Brayden Point opened the scoring for Lightning at 12:23 of the first period, capitalizing on his own rebound, while Blake Coleman doubled Lightning’s lead at 7:01 of the second period. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy enjoyed a standout performance, making 22 saves for his first shutout of the postseason.
“It’s the best moment of our hockey lives,” Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman exclaimed. “So many emotions. It’s going to take months for it to sink in, but we’re going to be champions forever, we’re going to be on that Cup forever. … It’s what you imagine all your life.”
Hedman won the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He scored 10 goals and 12 assists in 25 games. Nikita Kucherov, who assisted Point’s goal, topped the NHL leaderboard with 34 points (seven goals, 27 assists) in 25 games.
Point had the following to say about Kucherov, “He’s such a special player and he sees the ice so well and he works so hard on different skills or different plays that he thinks can be translated into games”.
This is Tampa Bay Lightning’s first Stanley Cup victory since 2004 when they defeated the Calgary Flames 2-1 in the final game of a thrilling seven-game series.
