- Lightning win 1-0 in Game 5 to clinch second straight Cup title
- Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy named playoff MVP
Quieting the din inside Amalie Arena for just a moment, Gary Bettman looked over to the Tampa Bay Lightning and reached back into the dark days of the pandemic perhaps one last time.
The NHL commissioner beckoned not just captain Steven Stamkos but the entire team over to touch, kiss and hoist the Stanley Cup as champions once more. It was a far cry from the tradition of presenting hockey’s holy grail to the captain to take back to his team, and the Lightning sent out another pandemic hockey season like they did the last – by winning their second championship in 10 months.
