In the Stanley Cup Finals, the Tampa Bay Lightning faced the Dallas Stars in a best-of-seven showdown, in which the Lightning won the series 4-2 over the Stars.
The Lightning’s road to victory was rigorous and competitive, however, being an extremely dominant team on both offensive and defensive. They came out on top, making them world champions. Before the playoffs, the Lightning’s regular season record was 43–21–6, with their home record, 22–10–2 and their road record 21–11–4.

During the playoffs, the Lightning had to face the Boston Bruins and the New York Islanders, who they both beat in a seven-game series. The Stars in the playoffs had to face the Colorado Avalanche and the Las Vegas Golden Knights, who they beat as well. The Dallas Stars had a regular season record of 37-24-8 before entering the playoffs.

Students had mixed predictions on who they thought was going to win. “I think the Lightning are going to win because they arguably have the best goalie in the league,” junior Brady Weiss said.

In game one of the finals, the Stars pummeled the Lightning f 4-1, making Dallas in the lead of the series 1-0. The Stars portrayed the extremely dominant offensive presence they had shown all year in this game and had large scoring plays from Jason Dickinson, Joel Hanley, Joel Kiviranta and Jamie Oleksiak.

The Lightning came back with a vengeance in game two and won a close game with a score of 3-2, making the series tied 1-1. Ondrej Palat, Brayden Point, and Kevin Shattenkirk were the primary scorers for the Lightning.

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In game three, the Lightning continued to dominate and beat the Stars again with a score of 5-2 making the series 2-1 with goals again from Ondrej Palat and Brayden Point, and additional goals from Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov, and Steven Stamkos.

In game four, the Lightning put the series up 3-1 with another victory over the Stars with a 5-4 win. Brayden Point had two goals this game, as well as one goal each from Kevin Shattenkirk, Alex Killorn, and Yanni Gourde. With three straight wins, the Lightning showed the type of endurance they have in crucial games such as the Stanley Cup, and showed the Stars that they are not holding back.

Dallas, not out of the fight, came back with a win in game five with a score of 3-2 over the Lightning, making the series 3-2. The Stars’ scorers for this game were two goals from Corey Perry and one goal from Joe Pavelski. Going into game six, the Stars knew they had to come ready to play, as they had to win to stay alive in the series.

The Stars could not keep up with the Lightning, which resulted in the Lightning putting the series away with a game 6 win of 2-0, making them Stanley Cup champions. Before 2020, the Tampa Bay Lightning had only won the Stanley Cup once, which was in 2004. Before that, they were considered the worst team in the league.

Some students wish the Stars had won. “I wish the Stars won because I have never seen them win it before,” junior Ryan Binder said.
To go from being called the worst team in the league to world champions is an incredible feat for the Lightning and shows just how much they have progressed over the years.