The Tampa Lightning have their ticket to a third straight Stanley Cup Final.
He will try to win the prestigious trophy for a third year in a row. To do this, he will have to take the measure of the Colorado Avalanche in the final.
Steven Stamkos scored both goals for the Lightning and his team defeated the New York Rangers 2-1 on Saturday to win the Eastern Conference Finals in six games.
“It’s hard not to be in the moment and realize the special squad we have because we still have games to play,” Stamkos said. We still haven’t reached our goal, but our group is quite amazing and special. »
Ondrej Palat was instrumental in Stamkos’ two goals. The Lightning lost the first two games of the series before coming from behind and winning the next four games.
Andrei Vasilevskiy was sparkling, stopping 20 shots.
“That’s probably not the best word to describe it, but I’m very impressed with this group,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said.
“It’s impressive what they’ve done… I’m just amazed at what they can do to win a hockey game,” added the pilot. And the fact that they have all the excuses in the world not to win, because no one would point fingers at them and say ‘hey, you just won two cups’. They come back to get a third one. I am impressed. »
The Lightning are the first team to make three consecutive Final appearances since the Edmonton Oilers of 1983-85. They will try to become the first team to win three consecutive Stanley Cups since the New York Islanders between 1980 and 1983.
The Lightning won their 11th straight series — third most in NHL history for such a streak.
Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals is Wednesday in Denver, Colorado.
Corey Perry has become the second player in NHL history to reach three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals with three different teams. He faced the Lightning in 2020 with the Dallas Stars then in 2021 with the Montreal Canadiens.
Marian Hossa also succeeded in this tour de force.
Frank Vatrano was the lone scorer for Rangers, who before Saturday’s game had won all five games in the 2022 playoffs when they faced elimination.
Igor Shesterkin was solid in the loss as well, making 29 saves.
“It’s tough right now. But we fought, we worked hard. We had a chance to win all of those games,” said New York Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant. “They found a way to score the big goals in the big moments. »
The Simply Inevitable Lightning
Despite their dominance in the first period, the Lightning were unable to open the scoring. Stamkos is the player who came closest to scoring when his shot hit the horizontal bar.
Despite multiple spectacular saves, including one from close range at the expense of Nikita Kucherov, Shesterkin finally gave in at 10:43 in the middle period.
The Lightning captain used Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren as a screen and his long shot caught Shesterkin off guard.
After Alexis Laffrenière created a penalty, Rangers tied the game. With less than seven minutes to go, Andrew Copp won the faceoff and Vatrano immediately unsheathed the throw-in to beat Vasilevskiy to the glove side.
Just 21 seconds later, Stamkos — who was guilty of the penalty on Vatrano’s goal — restored the Lightning’s lead. His initial shot was blocked by Shesterkin, but the rebound hit him before entering the net.