Canada Sports News

• Tampa Bay defeated Dallas Stars 2-0 in Game 6 to win the Stanley Cup trophy.
• Victor Hedman received a Conn Smythe trophy, for the best players in the playoffs.
• This is the second time for the Lightning to win the NHL title.

Lightning Stop Stars in the First Two Periods

Dallas had eight shots combined in the opening two frames of the game, which pretty much tells how they started this match. On the other side, the new NHL champions scored a goal in each of these periods, routinely wrapping up the contest afterward.

Brayden Point scored the first goal on a powerplay, at 12:23 since the start, correcting his first try denied by the Stars’ goalie Anton Khudobin.

Blake Coleman delivered the second hit, at 7:01 of the second. He blasted a one-time from the right face-off circle to double the advantage and to open the door to heaven for him and his franchise.

“It’s everything you work for as a hockey player,” Coleman said, following the match. “A little heavier than I thought, but it’s unbelievable.”

Dallas was much better in the final period, but they couldn’t score because of the Lightning goalie, Andrei Vasilevskiy. He recorded the first shutout in this playoff, saving 22 shots of the rivals.

“About time,” Vasilevskiy said on that. “I said that already in the locker room. Just amazing.”

Fourteen of his 21 saves were in the final period, meaning that he experienced quite a pressure from the other side. Yet, the Russian handled everything without too many problems.

Hedman Takes the Conn Smythe Trophy

The Swedish defenceman won the award for the best player in the playoffs. Hedman scored 10 goals and had 12 assists, contributing enormously not only on offense, but defense as well. According to many, even though his stats weren’t impressive for some standards, Hedman was superb throughout the entire postseason.

“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,” the Swed explained.

Lightning Finally at the Top

Over the previous five years, this franchise suffered multiple devastating setbacks. They would lose the Stanley Cup finals in 2015, then have two conference finals, which they lost, before experiencing one of the worst humiliations in the previous campaign.

After dominantly winning the Presidents’ Trophy, having one of the best regular-season records ever, Tampa Bay was swept in the first round of the playoffs against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

It made them the only Presidents’ Trophy winner to finish the playoffs without a single triumph. After this slap in the face, many believed that this team would fall apart. It seems that totally the opposite happened.

Jon Cooper’s crew created an even stronger bond, becoming tougher, and as a result, the second Stanley Cup in the history of the organization came to Tampa Bay. The Lightning head coach explained what he and his boys survived over the last year in just one sentence.

“Basically, we went from the outhouse to the penthouse.”