The Tampa Bay Lightning are heading back to the Stanley Cup Finals for a THIRD time in as many years. The last team to do that was the 1979-83 New York Islanders. To put this in perspective, Washinton had just won their first Super Bowl with Doug Williams, The Return of the Jedi just came out, M.A.S.H. was still on the air, and Michael Jackson just released ‘Thriller’. Wow, that was some trip down memory lane.
Also, another tidbit, my dad was just getting out of high school back then. And he’s older than the dinosaurs, so you know that what the Lightning are doing is as rare as seeing a walking dinosaur today.
Anyways, getting back to the Tampa Bay Lightning, they have a monumental task of trying to achieve the threepeat. They are not facing off against the ‘Outsiders’ Dallas Stars, shunned by high Stanley Cup society, as they only ever getting to the finals every twenty years or so, or the ‘Breakfast Club’ Montreal Canadiens, a mishmash team of rookies, ageing veterans, overperforming bottom line players, underdeveloped high end draft picks, superstars trying to live up to the legends of old, etc. You get the idea.
No, they are well and truly coming against a real powerhouse this time. The Colorado Avalanche. The ‘Risky Business’ Colorado Avalanche. The Joel Goodsen of the NHL. Or should I say, the Colorado “stylin’, profilin’, limousine riding, jet flying, kiss-stealing, wheelin’ and dealin’ son of a gun” Avalanche.
The…uh, I should probably stop the 80’s references now, shouldn’t I? Sorry Rick Flair, I really have to stop the 80’s references with you.
Okay, back to being serious. The Avalanche are the toughest team the Lightning will face in their three trips to the finals, without doubt. Not only do they have Nathan MacKinnon, Gabe Landeskog, Mikko Rantanen, and Nazem Kadri (if healthy) on offense, but also Cale Makar, Devon Toews, and Bowen Byram on defense. This team is stacked, and that is me not even mentioning half of their key players.
Can the Lightning win? Yeah, of course. Any team with Andrei Vasilevskiy in net and Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov on offense, skating down defenders will have a chance to win. The two issues will be injuries and willpower.
Braydon Point has missed the past two rounds ever since he got injured against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Round 1. Victor Headman left Game 6 against the Rangers with what looked to be a concussion related injury, but he did return for the Price of Wales trophy life.
If the Lightning have a shot at winning, they need the two of them to do it.
More importantly, in my opinion, is their willpower. What do I mean? I am not sure the Lightning have enough ‘gas in the tank’ to play against the Avalanche in a fast paced, high intensity series.
They nearly were overcome by the Rangers surge in Games 1 and 2 of ECF. The Avalanche will be aggressive, quicker, and just downright more talented than the Rangers were ever going to be.
Playing twelve straight rounds of playoff hockey is exhausting, along with three regular seasons to go with it. Only the greatest teams have ever overcome such adversity, and the Lightning are certainly on track to be one of them if they can take down Colorado.
If they just say hello to their little friend called endurance, then they can say they’ll be back to the Stanley Cup next year. (Sorry, had to get Scarface and the Terminator referances in the article somehow or another.)
P.S.: No offense to all the Generation X people out there. You guys are not dinosaurs, just my dad 🙂
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