neil (Neil Paine, senior sportswriter): After one of the weirdest seasons in NHL history, we finally have a champion! With a 1-0 victory Wednesday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning finished off the upstart Montreal Canadiens to win their second straight Stanley Cup and continue Tampa Bay’s run of sports dominance. It’s been an undeniably impressive […]
neil (Neil Paine, senior sportswriter): It wouldn’t be the Stanley Cup playoffs without some wild results, and the semifinal round has certainly delivered in that department. On Wednesday night, the New York Islanders overcame a 2-0 deficit (and an 8-0 loss the game before) to force Game 7 against the defending-champion Tampa Bay Lightning before […]
A year after an epic unraveling, the Tampa Bay Lightning have completed their redemption arc. The Bolts hoisted their second ever Stanley Cup on Monday night after dispatching the Dallas Stars 2-0, bringing to an end a hard-fought but ultimately comfortable series after six games. In doing so, Tampa exorcised any demons that may have […]
The Stanley Cup isn’t often won by the team that played the best hockey during the regular season. Since the introduction of the Presidents’ Trophy in 1986, only eight teams that finished the season with the most points have gone on to lift the Cup at the end of the playoffs. That said, the Stanley […]
When the NHL playoffs began, the bookmakers didn’t give the Dallas Stars much of a chance to win the Stanley Cup. The Stars had a decent regular season, buttressed by their excellent goaltending tandem of Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin, who each ranked among the league’s top 10 in terms of save percentage and quality […]