The Tampa Bay Lightning Win Their Second Stanley Cup

The Tampa Bay Lightning have won their second Stanley Cup in their 28 year history by defeating Dallas Stars 2-0 in Game 6 of the series. 

The Lightning last won the Stanley Cup in 2004 when they bested the Calgary Flames in seven games.

Of course, this year's Stanley Cup was unlike any other Stanley Cup. While both teams hailed from the southern United States the entirety of the Stanley Cup was played in Edmonton due to COVID-19 protocols. Indeed, the entire NHL post-season was played in hubs in Edmonton and Toronto, for the Western and Eastern Conferences respectively. Of course, COVID-19 has been far less prevalent in Canada. While the U.S. has more than 7.1 million COVID-19 cases and more than 200,000 deaths, Canada has slightly over 155,000 cases and fewer than 10,000 deaths (9.278) although cases have been climbing over the past several weeks. The NHL remarkably managed to carry out the playoffs and Stanley Cup without incident.

It will be interesting to see how things proceed with the 2020-2021 NHL season. Normally, this would have commenced at the beginning of October. But in light of COVID-19, the 2020-2021 season is due to begin on December 1st with plans for a full 82-game schedule. If COVID-19 restrictions remain in place and there is no changes with regard to restrictions at the U.S.-Canadian borer, it will be interesting to see if the 2020-2021 NHL season will be played entirely in Canada. Under those circumstances, it would be nice to see a Canadian team holding the Stanley Cup aloft for the first time since the Montreal Canadiens did so in 1993.

For now, the Stanley Cup belongs to Tampa Bay-St. Petersburg. The state of Florida might soon have another sports champion as the Miami Heat face the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals beginning tomorrow night. The Tampa Bay Rays and Miami Marlins are also in the MLB playoffs and it is not inconceivable there could be an all Florida World Series. All of this will surely crowd the sports bars (which have now been permitted to operate at 100% capacity). That will surely crowd the ERs with COVID.

I hate to rain on the Lightning's parade, but we are still not out of the COVID storm.