The Tampa Bay Lightning are one win away from winning their second consecutive Stanley Cup Final. On Friday, the Lightning pounded the Montreal Canadiens 6-3 at the Bell Centre in Quebec and now have a three games to none lead in the Stanley Cup Final.
Four Lightning had a multi-point game. Tyler Johnson of Spokane, WA had two goals, reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner and 2018 Norris Trophy winner Victor Hedman of Ornskoldsvik, Sweden had one goal and one assist for two points, 2019 Hart Trophy and Art Ross Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov of Maykop, Russia had one goal and one assist for two points, and left winger Ondrej Palat of Frydek-Mistek, Czech Republic had two assists. The other Lightning goal scorers were Blake Coleman of Plano, TX, and Jan Rutta of Pisek, Czech Republic.
Tampa Bay has now outscored Montreal 14-5 in the first three games of the Stanley Cup Finals. There was talk that the Canadiens might go with Jake Allen instead of Carey Price for the fourth game of the series on Monday night. However, Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme plans to go back to Price according to Sean Farrell of nhl.com.
The Lightning meanwhile are looking for their second Stanley Cup title over a Canadian team. In 2004, they defeated the Calgary Flames in seven games.
The Lightning are also looking for their second consecutive Stanley Cup title in Canada. Last year in Edmonton, they defeated the Dallas Stars in six games.
The talk among hockey fans over the last 24 hours is not whether or not the Lightning will win the Stanley Cup, but who will win the Conn Smythe Trophy. The candidates at this time are Kucherov (32 points in 21 games), Brayden Point of Calgary, Alberta (14 goals including a nine-game goal-scoring streak), Victor Hedman (18 points and leads Lightning players with 24 minutes and 31 seconds of ice time), and Andrei Vasilevskiy (15-6, four shutouts, 1.94 goals against average, and a .938 save percentage).
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