2021 Stanley Cup Final is here and history awaits whatever the outcome
History will be made in the 2021 NHL Stanley Cup Final no matter what.
The best time of year is finally here with Game 1 of the 2021 NHL Stanley Cup Final between the Montreal Canadiens and the Tampa Bay Lightning slated for tonight (8 p.m. ET), and this will be an unprecedented and fitting finale to the 2020-21 season in more ways than one.
For starters, the fact that two Eastern Conference teams are meeting in the Stanley Cup Final is new territory, a direct result of the COVID-19 Pandemic which forced the league to realign divisions and shake things up for one season only in order for hockey to be played this year.
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This matchup in the Final won’t happen again.
Sticking with the COVID-19 theme, the season’s main event will also be pretty special because it will be played in the arenas of the teams doing battle, as opposed to last year when the Lightning had to overcome the adversity and mental slog of being confined in a strict Bubble in order to win the greatest prize on the planet.
Furthermore, Amalie Arena, which will host Games 1 & 2, will be at full capacity pretty much for the Stanley Cup Final, meaning that Bolts fans will get the chance to cheer their team on as they look to repeat as champions, and a packed building will only add to the festivities.
2021 NHL Stanley Cup Final will live on in history in more ways than one
There is hope too that the Canadian Government will increase capacity at the Bell Centre before Game 3, with only 3,500 fans allowed in the building for the semifinals against the Vegas Golden Knights, and it is no secret that Montreal’s arena is one of the best in the entire NHL when it comes to postseason atmosphere.
Granted, even a small increase will still ensure that the Bell Centre is rocking, but the more fans allowed the better because that entire city will be going nuts as the Canadiens look to win their first Stanley Cup since 1993 while the whole country of Canada will be rooting for them.
Maybe not Toronto Maple Leafs fans, but hey.
And there will be history made on the ice too. As we just mentioned above, Montreal last tasted glory in 1993 and it has been a long road back since then, and they literally carry the hopes of a whole country on their shoulders given that Canada hasn’t celebrated a Stanley Cup Champion in 28 years.
There is certainly something special about this Canadiens team, and you can draw plenty of comparisons between this roster and the 1993 vintage, while you can be rest assured that General Manager Marc Bergevin and these players will go down in history if they are able to beat Tampa.
Speaking of the Lightning, they will be looking to create a little slice of history themselves given that they are attempting to repeat as Stanley Cup Champions, with the Pittsburgh Penguins being the last team to do so (2015-16, 2016-17).
Winning one championship in the salary cap era is an incredibly hard task, let alone winning back-to-back, but having somehow managed to work around the salary cap to keep their core intact, the star-studded Lightning are in prime position to do just that and etch their names into the long and rich history of the National Hockey League.
It should be a compelling series with so many intriguing storylines and mouthwatering matchups to keep an eye on, including an epic goalie duel between Carey Price and Andrei Vasilevskiy, veterans like Shea Weber looking to win their first Stanley Cup, young studs in the ilk of the Lightning’s Brayden Point and Cole Caufield of the Canadiens hoping to extend their hot streaks on the biggest stage and plenty more.
Next. We deserve this Stanley Cup Final. dark
We’ll be breaking it all down throughout the day as we prepare for Game 1, but one thing we’re sure of is that after the most unusual of years in the NHL, the 2021 Stanley Cup Final will deliver a boatload of history in more ways than one, ensuring that we all look back on the finale for years to come.