The first game of the Stanley Cup Final between the West third-seeded Dallas Stars and the East second-seeded Tampa Bay Lightning went to the Stars. When the NHL announced their Return to Play plan, I was a little skeptical we would ever get to this point amidst a global pandemic, but after nearly two months
Tampa Bay Lightning
Stanley Cup Final season is fully underway across the hockey world. The Tampa Bay Lightning and Dallas Stars are gearing up for a battle to see who can claim their second Stanley Cup title in franchise history. The Stars won their first in 1999, while the Lightning captured theirs in 2004. For Tampa Bay, there
In Game 6 of the 2020 Eastern Conference Final, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli scored the game-winning overtime goal that knocked the New York Islanders out of the playoffs and moved the Lightning on to the Stanley Cup Final. This goal was started by Cirelli’s tenacious play and ability to keep things moving. He
After reaching the 2015 Stanley Cup Final, then Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman decided to take an active approach to continue building his already strong roster. To do so, he reached back into his bag of tricks, trading the Lightning’s first-round pick to the New York Islanders for the second-straight year. In exchange
The Tampa Bay Lightning wasted no time finding their game in the Eastern Conference Final against the New York Islanders on Sunday night. They produced eight goals to defeat the Isles by a final score of 8-2. It was a statement game for the Lightning, not only to their Eastern foe but to the Dallas
The New York Islanders faced an improbable task of playing their first Conference Final Game in 27 years, nearly 48 hours after their Game 7 win Saturday night over the Philadelphia Flyers. Also, the Islanders spent their off-day traveling from the bubble in Toronto to Edmonton, and clearly, they were not up to the task in
With the NHL down to its final four playoff teams, there are a handful of players who have emerged as front-runners for the Conn Smythe Trophy as postseason MVP. After having scored 25 points in 15 games, Nathan MacKinnon looked like he was going to run away with the award until his Colorado Avalanche lost
Every single year, Canadian fans are force-fed a nonsense narrative that we must back our last remaining city battling through the postseason. That’s beyond illogical, for a number of reasons. I’m here to clear any confusion — with only USA-based cities now remaining — on who all of my Canadian neighbours should be cheering for
Whenever you make a trade in any sport, there is an inherent risk involved. Giving up future assets for a player that can help you now is far from an exact science, as anything from an injury to just a lack of chemistry can keep that player from fitting in with your roster. Then, those
The QMJHL has always been known as a scorer’s league, and some of their alumni are bringing those skills to the biggest stages in Edmonton and Toronto. Nathan MacKinnon is one of the most accomplished QMJHL graduates, and he has become one of the top players in the NHL. His dominance is on full display
The Tampa Bay Lightning have high-end offense. Everyone knows that. The Columbus Blue Jackets have a stout defense. Everyone knows that too. It’s the unstoppable force (Lightning offense) against the immovable object (Blue Jackets defense.) Who would win such an epic battle? So far after four intense games, it’s actually the Lightning’s defense that is
In today’s NHL rumor rundown, with the Winnipeg Jets now out of the playoff picture, the team is finally allowed to reveal the extent of the injuries to both Mark Scheifele and Patrik Laine. The Pittsburgh Penguins are making a chance in goal and the head coach explains why. Will Matt Murray’s playoff performance play
Weaponizing cap space is not a luxury many teams have. But it’s something the New Jersey Devils have done to a great extent over the last few seasons. Whether it was acquiring Marcus Johansson in 2017 or Nikita Gusev almost a year ago, they’ve used their available cap space to their advantage. It won’t be any
In today’s NHL rumor rundown, the first NHL player has informed their team that they will not take part in the play-in round. Who else might be next? The Tampa Bay Lightning potentially got some bad news as Steve Stamkos suffered an injury. Finally, there could be some interest in Taylor Hall from the Montreal
In the last few seasons, Tampa Bay Lightning fans have looked at each other and asked a simple question, “What should we do about Tyler Johnson?” While this is technically not the offseason, it is June, so it’s time to dig into this annual question. Related: Ben Bishop Trade Revisited For as long as he
Welcome to the first-ever Tampa Bay Lightning roundtable discussion. In this post, our team of Lightning contributors consisting of Eugene Helfrick and myself were joined by Chris Haddad and our prospect expert Josh Bell. We talked about the upcoming NHL draft and who the Lightning should target with their picks, what their prospect system looks
The Tampa Bay Lightning are a perfect example of how the current NHL promotes high-speed and high-scoring teams. The team features three legitimate scoring lines that it stocks with short but compact, speedy but balanced players who have powerful shots. If the 2019-20 regular season restarts, then the Lightning have a good chance of having four 30-goal scorers, a feat that has happened once in the NHL since 2008-09 (San Jose Sharks, 2018-19). Related:
No matter what team you cheer for in any sport, your franchise of choice will always have those players that you look back on and think… how did we let him go? That future All-Star who looked just average as a rookie, or a veteran that was traded just before they became a stalwart at