There’s 3 big reasons why the Tampa Bay Lightning will win the Stanley Cup Final on Monday.
This could be it with the Tampa Bay Lightning needing just one more win to go back-to-back as Stanley Cup Champions, and they could do it in style by beating the Montreal Canadiens in Game 4 tonight to sweep the series.
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It has been a summer to remember for the Bolts so far who have been dominant throughout the postseason, and they’ve really illustrated just how much of a juggernaut they are in the Stanley Cup Final by completely owning the Canadiens.
Tampa has outshot the Habs 14-5, they’ve been ruthless, they have had contributions from up and down the lineup, they’ve gotten elite goaltending and they’ve been able to get the job done even when they’ve not been at their best, which was the case in Game 2.
As such, the Bolts are now on the cusp of winning their second straight championship and they would become only the ninth team in the history of the National Hockey League to go back-to-back, with the Pittsburgh Penguins the last team to do it in 2015-16 and 2016-17.
No team has swept the Stanley Cup Final since the Detroit Red Wings achieved that remarkable feat back in 1998 against the Washington Capitals, and here’s three reasons why the Lightning will follow in their footsteps tonight…
3 Reasons why the Tampa Bay Lightning will sweep the 2021 Stanley Cup Final
3. Experience
The Bolts have been here before.
Experience counts for a lot during the heat of postseason battle, and Tampa Bay has an abundance of it having won the Stanley Cup in 2020 inside the Bubble, where they had to overcome a boatload of adversity in order to win the greatest prize on the planet.
It is also important to remember that this team has been a legit contender for well over five years now, so they know a thing or two about making deep runs and what it takes to win on the biggest stage with the pressure really on.
And, in a position to now finish the job in the Stanley Cup Final, the Lightning can look back on last season’s experience to help them ahead of tonight, because there are plenty of similarities between the two runs.
For starters, they played in front of no fans last year because of the COVID-19 Pandemic and, while there will be 3,500 fans inside the Bell Centre tonight, that experience of being on their own with no fans or family will aid them tonight.
But, and most importantly, Head Coach Jon Cooper has spoken of how thoughts were starting to drift towards lifting the Stanley Cup before Game 5 of the Final last year, a game they lost to the Dallas Stars to force a Game 6.
Tampa did get the job done eventually but having allowed themselves to get distracted last season, that shouldn’t be a problem tonight and you can bet a lot of money that this team will be completely focussed on the task at hand which is getting the job done in Game 4.
The celebrating can be done later.