Tampa Bay Lightning Win Stanley Cup for Second Straight Year

The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 and ensuring that they would win the Stanley Cup Trophy.

The Lightning are the first team to win back-to-back trophies since the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017.

Recap of Game 5

The Lightning’s win wasn’t surprising by any means. The score, though, may be. What was unexpected in this intense Game 5 was who scored the only goal, which was rookie Ross Colton.

Colton’s goal came in the second period. But, he’s not the only one that deserves some credit. Newly acquired defenseman David Savard, who was traded from the Columbus Blue Jackets during the trade deadline, gave Colton a beautiful pass, placing it directly on Colton’s stick to help him make what would eventually be the game-winning goal.

Throughout the entire match, the Lightning had a stellar performance, both offensively and defensively.

In a brief analysis of how the Lightning performed defensively, they were pretty much on point.

A lot of credit has to go to goaltender Andrei Vasilevski, who stopped all 22 shots the Canadiens fired at him.

In addition, Vasilevski was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy, given to the MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Lightning Team Was All In Game 5

There isn’t really just one single player that can be acknowledged for making a contribution in Game 5.

In addition to Colton’s game-winning goal, this marked his 53rd career game and his fourth postseason goal. The goal also marked the young rookie’s first since the second round of the playoffs.

Ryab McDonagh also assisted in Colton’s goal and Vasilevskiy recorded yet another shutout. So, for the Lightning goalie, this is his fifth straight shutout in an elimination game.

Now, it is definitely fair to say that the Lightning’s whole team was all in this big game. They basically dominated every game, especially in this particular series against the Habs.

The Habs struggled a lot in their series against the Lightning, even though they did win in Game 4, saving them from elimination at the time.

The 3-2 OT win wasn’t the ideal way the Habs wanted to win, but that’s how it ended. The Habs played decently, but there was still evidence of weak points on their behalf.

Consequently, it is clear that the Lightning dominated all series long, as they outshot the Habs 34-21 in Game 4.

The results at the conclusion of Game 5 was pretty much the same thing. The Lightning outshot the Habs 30-22.

Maybe Next Year Will Be The Habs’ Time

This loss comes as a huge disappointment for the Habs, who hasn’t won a Stanley Cup Trophy since 1993. This marks nearly 30 years since the Canadian team hoisted up Lord Stanley.

The Habs will want to come back strong next season in hopes of snapping a long drought. Throughout the offseason, the Habs will want to look at what they did right and wrong to learn how to better improve as a team by October.

They have three months to figure out where they need to go from here and what needs to be done in order to come back on the winning side should they make it to the Finals next year.

You can “Like” The Game Haus on Facebook and “Follow” us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from other great TGH writers, along with Katelyn