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Game One: Defending Champs Win Big

The Tampa Bay Lightning struck first in the 2021 Stanley Cup Final; winning Game One in dominant fashion.

By Clyde E. DawkinsPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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I absolutely love the Stanley Cup Final, no matter who is in it. My reasons are many, but among them is the prestige of the event. While I always know that the Stanley Cup Final means the end of another hockey season, it is a spectacular end. It is the end result of a long and grueling season played out by 31 teams (32 starting next season), with only two left standing facing each other in a best-of-seven series to determine who will hoist Lord Stanley's Cup. After all was said and done, the two teams left standing were the Tampa Bay Lightning (the defending Stanley Cup Champions) and the Montréal Canadiens, who are actually in the same division.

For the Lightning, they are trying to repeat as champions and also win their third Stanley Cup overall (their first came in 2004). The Canadiens, however, are under a larger microscope. They are the first Canadian team to reach the Stanley Cup Final since the Vancouver Canucks did so in 2011. They are trying to win their NHL-leading 25th Stanley Cup, and their first since 1993 (which was the Lightning's debut season), and in addition, their 1993 Cup was also the last time that a Canadian franchise won it all.

Erik Cernak opened up the scoring, doing so 6:19 into the opening frame. It was the only tally in the first period, which ended with the Lightning outshooting the Canadiens 7-5. Ondrej Palat and Brayden Point assisted on the tally, which was Cernak's first of the playoffs. 5:47 into the 2nd period, Yanni Gourde scored from Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow, making it 2-0, but at the near end of the period, Ben Chiarot ended Andrei Vasilevskiy's shutout aspirations with his first of the playoffs. Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Shea Weber assisted on the goal, and after 40 minutes, it was 2-1 Lightning.

Now with that, I figured that the Canadiens would continue to battle back in the third period, but that was not the case. The Bolts were just too much for the Habs in that third frame. Nikita Kucherov put up two goals in the third--the first coming two minutes in and the second coming at the 11:25 mark. With the Habs not able to get one past Vasilevskiy again, those two Kucherov markers put the game out of reach, and to add more insult to injury, Steven Stamkos scored a Power Play goal late in the game, the first PPG given up by the Habs in 13 games.

The Lightning took Game One by a score of 5-1, and lead the Stanley Cup Final one game to none. Kucherov and Point each had three point nights, with all three of Kucherov's points coming in the third period, while Point had all helpers. Vasilevskiy had an easy night, stopping 18 of the Habs' 19 shots. The Lightning are three wins away from repeating as Stanley Cup Champions, and this game already has many fans handing the cup back to Tampa Bay. Don't pop the champagne just yet.

First off, this was the same attitude that many had after the Habs lost game one to the Vegas Golden Knights, yet Montréal went on to oust the Knights in six games. Another fun fact, in each of the last three years, the team who lost Game One of the Stanley Cup Final went on to win the whole thing: the Capitals in 2018, the Blues in 2019, and the Lightning in 2020. It takes more than one game to determine how a series will finish.

Game Two is Wednesday in Tampa Bay.

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About the Creator

Clyde E. Dawkins

I am an avid fan of sports and wrestling, and I've been a fan of female villains since the age of eight. Also into film and TV, especially Simpsons and Family Guy.

Feel free to follow my social media:

Twitter - Facebook - Tiktok - Instagram

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