Vegas Golden Knights right wing Mark Stone holds the Stanley Cup after defeating the Florida Panthers 9-3 in Game 5 of the National Hockey League Finals on June 13, 2023, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Knights won the series 4-1.
Credit: © John Locher, AP Photo

The Vegas Golden Knights routed the Florida Panthers 9-3 yesterday, winning the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Finals, the National Hockey League’s championship, four games to one. The win caps the Golden Knights’ swift rise from expansion team to member of the upper echelons of the league.

The Golden Knights took an early two-games-to-none lead in the series. The Panthers won a come-from-behind overtime win in game three, but their star forward Matthew Tkachuk fractured his sternum during the contest and was not a major factor in the rest of the series.

With a 10-game point (goals plus assists) streak and 13 goals and 12 assists overall, forward Jonathan Marchessault won the Conn Smythe Trophy for the playoffs’ most valuable player. Marchessault, one of the six remaining players on Vegas’s roster from its inaugural season in 2017, defeated the team that had let him go. In fact, the Panthers traded Reilly Smith to Vegas so they would take Marchessault instead of defensemen Alex Petrovic and Mark Pysyk during the expansion draft. The French-Canadian burned his former team to the tune of four goals and four assists.

Marchessault’s partner in the withering Vegas offense was veteran center Jack Eichel. Eichel scored six goals and had 20 assists in the Golden Knight’s playoff run. After goaltender Laurent Brossoit was injured during the second round, backup Adin Hill helped guide Vegas through a grueling six-game barnburner against the Dallas Stars. The series featured three overtime games and two shutouts from Hill.

The Panthers were the Cinderella story of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They snuck into the tournament with the fewest standings points (92, with two points awarded per win and one point awarded for each overtime loss) of any playoff team. They were paired against the mighty Boston Bruins in the first round. Odds-on favorites to win the Cup, the Bruins had set the NHL records for wins (65 in an 82-game season) and standings points (135). But Florida stunned the hockey world by knocking off Boston in seven games. The upstart Panthers then dispatched the formidable Toronto Maple Leafs in five games and the Carolina Hurricanes in four to reach the Finals.

The Vegas Golden Knights have a short history filled with success. In 2017, the NHL held an expansion draft that allowed the Golden Knights to pick players from other teams. Responding to past expansion teams in the NHL and other sports being mired in mediocrity for years, the league reduced the number of players each team could “protect” from being picked by the new team. Vegas took advantage of the new draft rules and had one of the best inaugural seasons by an expansion franchise in any major professional sport. They finished first in the Pacific Division and made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, but lost to the Washington Capitals. Overall, Vegas has made the playoffs in five of its first six seasons.

Until 2017, Las Vegas had no major professional sports teams. Due to relaxing attitudes towards sports betting and a booming population, that situation quickly changed. Now, the city has a championship NHL team and a National Football League (NFL) team (the Raiders, who moved from Oakland in 2020). Furthermore, on the day the Knights won the Cup, the Nevada state senate passed a bill to fund $380 million towards building a Major-League-Baseball-caliber ballpark on the Las Vegas Strip. The legislative approval was seen as the last major hurdle for the Athletics, currently of Oakland, to move to the state.

With many of its star players signed on for next year, the Golden Knights will remain the bright center of the newly-formed Vegas sports solar system.

Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin skates in a game against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Credit: © Andy Martin Jr, Alamy Images

GOAL! In December, professional hockey player Alex Ovechkin, who plays for the Washington Capitals, became the player with the second most goals in NHL history with 802 goals. He passed Gordie Howe’s record of 801 points. Hockey star Wayne Gretzky holds the number one record with 894 goals. However, Ovechkin isn’t retiring anytime soon!

He scored two goals in a game against the Winnipeg Jets on Friday, December 23rd, 2022. His first goal of the game tied him with Howe in the first quarter. With one minute left in the third quarter, he gracefully shot the puck into the goal to beat Howe’s record. The Capitals defeated the Jets 4 to 1.

Alexander Ovechkin is a Russian-born hockey player. He is one of the stars of the National Hockey League (NHL). Ovechkin, a left wing for the Washington Capitals, led the NHL in scoring with 112 points (65 goals and 47 assists) in the 2007-2008 season. He has led the league in goals scored nine times (2007-2008, 2008-2009, 2012-2013, 2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020).

Ovechkin won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s Most Valuable Player for the 2007-2008, 2008-2009, and 2012-2013 seasons. He also won the Lester B. Pearson Award (now the Ted Lindsay Award) for the 2007-2008, 2008-2009, and 2009-2010 seasons. The award is given to the most outstanding player in the NHL as voted by the league’s players. In 2018, Ovechkin led Washington to its first Stanley Cup championship. He was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player in the 2018 playoffs.

Ovechkin was born on September 17th, 1985, in Moscow, U.S.S.R. (now Russia). He began playing hockey with Dynamo Moscow in the Russian Super League in 2001 at the age of 16 and spent four seasons with the team. Ovechkin was chosen by Washington as the first player selected in the 2004 NHL draft. However, he did not play with the Capitals until 2005, because the 2004-2005 NHL season was canceled due to a labor dispute between the players and owners. Ovechkin won the Calder Memorial Trophy in 2006 as the NHL Rookie of the Year. His 65 goals in 2007-2008 set an NHL record for left wingers.

Ovechkin helped the Russian national team win the men’s world championship in 2008. He played for Russia in the 2006 and 2010 Olympic Games.

Colorado Avalanche plays the Tampa Bay Lightning for the 2022 Stanley Cup.
Credit: © Dirk Shadd, Tampa Bay Times/ZUMA Press/Alamy Images

The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 2 to 1 on Sunday, winning the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Finals, the National Hockey League’s championship, four games to two. They overcame a controversial penalty call in Game 5 and a 1-0 deficit early in Game 6 to secure the team’s first Stanley Cup victory since 2001.

Twenty-three-year-old defenseman Cale Makar was unanimously selected as the Conn Smythe Trophy for most valuable player in the playoffs. He racked up 8 goals and 21 assists during the playoffs. Veteran center Nathan MacKinnon accrued 13 goals and 11 assists during the playoffs. 

After a solid regular season, journeyman goaltender Darcy Kuemper had a mixed performance in the playoffs including a Game 3 Finals loss in which he gave up five goals on 22 shots. Kuemper stepped up Game 6, however, blocking 22 out of 23 Tampa Bay shots on goal. 

The Avs denied the Lightning a chance at a third consecutive Stanley Cup win. The Lightning were trying to win three in a row for the first time since the New York Islanders won four consecutive Finals from 1980-1983. 

Like thunderclouds approaching a mountain overburdened with snow, the Avalanche and the Lightning seemed destined to meet in the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals. Colorado racked up 56 wins during the regular season, narrowly missing the Presidents’ Trophy for best regular-season record. The Lightning are a perennial powerhouse, having made it at least as far as the Eastern Conference Final six out of the last eight seasons.

Even the best teams rarely have an easy path through hockey’s second season, but the two teams’ road was less difficult than most. Only one playoff series the two teams participated went to seven games, when the Toronto Maple Leafs pushed the Bolts to the brink of eliminations during first round. Colorado swept an overmatched Edmonton Oilers team in the Western Conference Final. Tampa Bay defeated the New York Rangers in six games to take the Prince of Wales Trophy.  

The Colorado Avalanche underwent a painful rebuild to reach this point. They were the worst team in the league in 2016-2017 season. But general manager Joe Sakic (a Hall-of-Fame Avalanche player) stuck with rookie coach Jared Bednar and picked up Makar in the 2017 draft. Sakic then made a series of shrewd moves that slowly improved the team over the next few years. He acquired forwards Andre Burakovsky and Nazem Kadri and goalie Kuemper, among others, through trades. 

The Avalanche are poised to compete for the Cup for years to come. Few of their players are on the wrong side of 30. Time will tell if they can go back-to-back, as Tampa Bay did. But the Lightning aren’t going away, either, led by captain Steven Stamkos. Hockey fans may witness this elemental clash again in future playoffs.

Tampa, Florida, USA. 7th July, 2021. Tampa Bay Lightning celebrate their 1-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens to win the Stanley Cup Wednesday, July 7, 2021 in Tampa. For the second year in a row the Lightning are able to hoist the coveted Stanley Cup.
Credit: © Dirk Shadd, Tampa Bay Times/ZUMA Wire/Alamy Images

For the second time in a little over nine months, the Tampa Bay Lightning have won the Stanley Cup. The Lightning beat the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 on Wednesday, winning the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Finals four games to one.

The Lightning became the 17th National Hockey League (NHL) team to win two or more consecutive championships, though none have had as quick of a turnaround as Tampa Bay did. The team wrapped up their previous Stanley Cup championship on Sept. 28, 2020. That 2019-2020 season was greatly delayed and shorted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Teams had to compete in “bubbles” during the playoffs, isolated from everyone other than teammates and team personnel. No fans were in attendance. This year, Lightning captain Steven Stamkos and his team got to hoist the Cup on home ice in front of tens of thousands of screaming fans.

COVID-19 still loomed large over the 2020-2021 NHL season. The season began in January 2021 and was shortened to 56 games to give the Lightning and other playoff teams a short break. Several outbreaks among players forced game postponements. Border quarantine protocols kept friends and family of Lightning players from attending the fourth game of the finals in Montreal. Canadiens interim head coach Dominique Ducharme missed several playoff games due to his testing positive for the virus.

In beating the Canadiens (nicknamed the Habs), Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, nicknamed the Big Cat, extended his record to five straight series-clinching shutouts, stopping all 22 shots that came his way. He earned the Conn Smythe Trophy for the most valuable player of the playoffs for his outstanding play. The Big Cat went 16-7 with five shutouts, a .937 save percentage and a 1.90 goals-against average over his 23 playoff starts.

Vasilevskiy had set the record during the semifinals, in which the New York Islanders pushed the Lightning to the brink of elimination in their quest to repeat victory. But the goalie went 18-for-18 saves in game 7 as the Lightning defeated the Islanders by a 1-0 score. The defeat was all too familiar for the Islanders, who fell to Tampa Bay in the semifinals during the 2020 playoffs.

It’s hard to lose a playoff series when you never lose back-to-back games. The Lightning are now 14-0 after a loss over the last two Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Tampa area has dominated North American professional sports recently. Over the last year, Tampa Bay teams have won the Stanley Cup twice, the National Football League (NFL) Super Bowl (Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which featured the first ever win for a team at their home city, since the Super Bowl is played at a prearranged site), and have appeared in the Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series (Tampa Bay Rays, losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers). With the region’s luck, it might be an attractive destination for a new National Basketball Association (NBA) or Major League Soccer (MLS) team!

Ryan McDonagh of the Tampa Bay Lightning plays the puck away from Alexander Radulov of the Dallas Stars in Game 6 of the National Hockey League Stanley Cup Finals on Sept. 28, 2020, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The Lightning beat the Stars in the final 4 games to 2.
Credit: © Andy Devlin, NHLI/Getty Images

The Tampa Bay area in Florida, a region where temperatures rarely dip below 40 °F (4 °C), is home to North America’s ice hockey champions. On Sep. 28, 2020, the Tampa Bay Lightning blanked the Dallas Stars 2-0 to win the Stanley Cup. The Lightning won the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Finals four games to two after a long, strange, and grueling season. Goals from Braden Point and in-season acquisition Blake Coleman were more than enough offense for goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who finished the series with a flourish, stopping all 22 shots he faced.

Long-time Lightning player Victor Hedman earned the Conn Smythe Trophy for the most valuable player of the playoffs. He scored 10 goals (the third-most ever scored by a defenseman in the playoffs) and 22 points over 25 playoff games.

The Lightning triumphed in the playoffs despite a limited contribution from their captain Steven Stamkos, who was injured for almost all of the playoffs. Stamkos made a brief appearance in Game 3 of the Finals, scoring a goal in less than three minutes of ice time, before his injury forced him out again.

The loss was another heartbreak for the Dallas Stars, who lost to the eventual champion St. Louis Blues in the 2019 playoffs. During the offseason, they added to their solid core by picking up Joe Pavelski and Corey Perry, who had spent long careers on the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks, respectively. The veterans did their part, scoring the game-tying and winning goals in a heart-pounding double-overtime Game 5 to stave off elimination. The Stars backup goalie Anton Khudobin filled in admirably for injured ex-Lightning net-minder Ben Bishop, but he could not withstand Tampa Bay’s withering offense. The Lightning went a blistering 7-for-19 on the power-play in the series, while the Stars could manage only one goal in their 19 power-play chances.

Tampa Bay last won the Stanley Cup in 2004. The current core had been one of the best teams in the National Hockey League (NHL) to not win the Cup, losing to the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2015 Finals and suffering earlier playoff eliminations in 2016, 2017, and 2019.

The COVID-19 pandemic ground professional hockey to a halt in 2020, as it did nearly every other aspect of life. As the virus spread through North America in March, the NHL postponed and eventually cancelled the remainder of its season. Each team had played about 70 games of their 82-game schedules.

The NHL and National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) later agreed to hold playoffs beginning Aug. 1. The NHL playoffs took place in “bubbles” similar to that employed for the National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs. Players, coaches, and player-facing team personnel remained cloistered in hotels near Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, and Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario. The games were televised, but no fans were in attendance. The bubble format was successful in preventing COVID-19 outbreaks among players and staff: the NHL reported no COVID-19 cases inside the bubbles during the nine-week playoff tournament, despite conducting more than 31,000 tests.

Because of the unplanned shortening of the regular season, the NHL added a qualifying round to the playoff structure. The teams with the fifth- through twelfth-best records in both conferences played a single five-game qualifying series. The eight winners joined the top four teams in both conferences for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which retained its usual format of four rounds of seven-game series.

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly delayed the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Steven Stamkos and his team hoisted the Cup less than a week before the 2020-2021 season would have normally begun. The NHL’s Return to Play plan envisioned the next season starting as early as Dec. 1, but commissioner Gary Bettman admitted it could be pushed back to January. The bubble format, while successful for the playoffs, has been ruled out for the regular season. The NHL and NHLPA are discussing alternatives to play the season safely.

June 17, 2019

Last week, on June 12, the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League (NHL) downed the Boston Bruins 4-1 to win the team’s first ever Stanley Cup title. The Blues won the best-of-seven final four games to three. Fifty-two years after the team’s debut NHL season (1967-1968), this year’s Blues made the most of an opportunity to change their reputation as an ever-competent team that suffered letdowns in each of its 42 previous playoff runs. In the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Blues possessed more dazzle, more determination, and more puck-luck than any of its opponents.

Members of the St. Louis Blues celebrate their Stanley Cup victory over the Boston Bruins at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, on June 12, 2019. Credit: © Bruce Bennett, Getty Images

A Blues championship looked rather unlikely early in the NHL season, as the team possessed the league’s worst record as of Jan. 2, 2019. But the team then called up the talented rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington, who helped them to turn things around. The Blues finished the season 45-28-9, good enough for third place in the Central Division of the Western Conference.

In the playoffs, St. Louis overcame the favored Winnipeg, Dallas, and San Jose squads to advance to their first Stanley Cup Final since 1970—when the Bruins swept the Blues for the title. The Blues brought a team of grinders to the final, including forward Pat Maroon, right wing Vladimir Tarasen, and center Ryan O’Reilly, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the postseason. O’Reilly tallied 8 goals and 15 assists in the playoffs.

Boston enjoyed a very good season, finishing second in the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division at 49-24-9. The Bruins took out Toronto, Columbus, and Carolina in the playoffs before meeting St. Louis. In the final, oddsmakers favored Boston, which featured such stars as wing Brad Marchand, center Patrice Bergeron, goaltender Tuukka Rask, and veteran defenseman Zdeno Chara, the team captain.

The Bruins captured game one in Boston, 4-2. The Blues took game two in Boston, 3-2, but the Bruins spoiled the Blues’s St. Louis homecoming with a 7-2 shellacking in game three. The Blues rebounded to win games four (4-2) and five (2-1) for a three games to two series advantage. Boston took away the Blues’ chance to win a title at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, however, winning game six 5-1. Back in Boston for game seven, St. Louis scored two first period goals for a 2-0 lead, then added two more in the third period for a commanding 4-0 advantage. Boston managed a meaningless goal late in the fourth, but the NHL finally sang the blues as the final horn signaled the end of a long championship draught in St. Louis.

The win for St. Louis continued another title draught, however. No team from Canada—the “land of hockey” and the birthplace of 21 of 30 Blues—has now won the Stanley Cup since the Montreal Canadiens in 1993.

June 13, 2018

Last week, on June 7, the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL) stunned the Vegas Golden Knights with a 4-3 come-from-behind victory to win the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final four games to one. The Capitals scored two goals midway through the third period, erasing a 3-2 deficit along with 44 years of NHL shortcomings. It was the first Stanley Cup win for Washington (D.C.), a team that had enjoyed much regular season success but none in the postseason since entering the NHL in 1974.

Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals raises the Stanley Cup after his team defeated the Vegas Golden Knights to win the Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, on June 7, 2018. Credit: © Jeff Bottari, Getty Images

The Capitals long-awaited title ended the hopes of the upstart Golden Knights, a first-year expansion team that made an improbable run through the playoffs to reach the final. The freshly minted Golden Knights fans showed their appreciation, however, cheering their team off the ice after the final horn ended the season late Thursday at T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada.

Since Washington’s first NHL season in 1974-1975, the Capitals had made just one appearance in the Stanley Cup Final, a demoralizing sweep by the Detroit Red Wings in 1998. In recent years, the Caps, led by star left winger Alex Ovechkin, tantalized their fans by winning 7 of the last 10 division championships. Much to the team’s and its fans’ disappointment, however, they were bounced early from the playoffs each time. This year was different. The Caps roared through the postseason, knocking off the Columbus Blue Jackets and the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins before outlasting the Tampa Bay Lightning in a hard-fought seven-game Eastern Conference Final.

Ovechkin led the Caps run, and he earned the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs. Ovechkin scored 3 of his playoff-best 15 goals in the final series against Vegas. Centers Evgeny Kuznetsov (20 assists) and Nicklas Backstrom, winger T.J. Oshie, defender John Carlson, and goalie Braden Holtby all played key roles for the Caps in the postseason. Journeyman Devante Smith-Pelly, a fourth-line forward, brought unexpected scoring to his team. He tallied seven playoff goals, including three during the final’s five games.

Compared with long-suffering Capitals fanatics, Golden Knights fans were born with silver (or was it golden?) spoons in their mouths. Vegas compiled the most successful season for a first-year expansion team in NHL history. Vegas almost paired its spoons with a big silver cup following its regular season Pacific Division crown and a rampage during the Western Conference playoffs. Led by centers William Karlsson and Jon Marchessault, wingers David Perron and Reilly Smith, defender Nate Schmidt, and star goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, the Golden Knights bested the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks before beating the Winnipeg Jets in the conference final. The Jets playoff crash continued the Stanley Cup drought for Canadian teams. The last team from north of the border to reach the final was the Vancouver Canucks in 2011, and the last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup was the Montreal Canadiens in 1993—lamentable statistics for hockey’s home country.

Vegas was the first expansion team to reach the Stanley Cup Final in its inaugural season since the St. Louis Blues did it in 1968. Like the Golden Knights, the Blues ran out of magic in the final, where they lost to the Canadiens four games to none.

June 13, 2017

On Sunday night, June 11, the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL) defeated the Nashville Predators 2-0 to win the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final four games to two, capturing their second straight title. After scoring two late goals to win the deciding game six at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, the Pens rushed the ice to collectively and jubilantly hoist the Stanley Cup trophy. Pittsburgh, which defeated the San Jose Sharks in the 2016 final, became the first team since the Detroit Red Wings of the late 1990’s to repeat as NHL champions. This year’s championship is the team’s fifth since the Penguins joined the NHL in 1967.

Players, coaches, and staff of the Pittsburgh Penguins pose happily with the Stanley Cup trophy after winning their second-straight National Hockey League championship on June 11, 2017, in Nashville, Tennessee. Credit: © Bruce Bennett, Getty Images

Pittsburgh forward Patric Hornqvist banked in the game-winning shot off the back of Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne with about a minute and a half to go in the third period. Pens winger Carl Hagelin then added an empty-net goal with 14 seconds remaining. The Pens’ 23-year-old goalie, Matt Murray, saved 27 shots en route to recording his second consecutive shutout to clinch the final’s tightest game. The series began on a fluky note as the Pens scored 5 goals on only 12 shots to win game one, 5-3. The ensuing games were never terribly close as the Pens dominated games two and five and the Predators easily won games three and four.

The Penguins’ captain, star center Sidney Crosby, won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs. Crosby rang up 8 goals and 19 assists during the Pens’ postseason march, his 27 points trailing only teammate Evgeni Malkin’s playoff tally of 28 points. The Crosby-Malkin duo secured their third Stanley Cup together, their first coming in 2009. To reach the 2017 Stanley Cup Final, the Penguins finished second in the Eastern Conference’s Metropolitan Division before brushing away the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round of the playoffs and winning tough victories over the Washington Capitals and the Ottawa Senators.

The Predators made their first Stanley Cup Final unexpectedly, having barely qualified for the playoffs with a fourth-place finish in the Western Conference’s Central Division. The Preds showed their mettle in the playoffs, however, knocking off the powerhouse Chicago Blackhawks before taking down the St. Louis Blues and Anaheim Ducks to reach the final. The team’s unlikely playoff run—behind Rinne, star defenseman P. K. Subban, and a host of talented young forwards—generated unprecedented hockey excitement in “Music City” (Nashville’s nickname), as fans roared their team to a deafening home-ice advantage while sporting gold shirts bearing the image of the team’s namesake fanged predator, a saber-toothed cat.

June 14, 2016

Pittsburgh Penguins players, coaches, and staff pose with the Stanley Cup trophy after defeating the San Jose Sharks in game six of the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup Final on June 12, 2016.
Credit: © Marcio Jose Sanchez, AP Photo

On Sunday night, June 12, the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL) defeated the San Jose Sharks 3-1 to win the best-of-7 Stanley Cup Final 4 games to 2, capturing their first title in 7 years. The quick, confident Penguins made themselves at home on the ice at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, thoroughly outskating the Sharks to nab the championship series-clinching win. It was the fourth NHL title for the Penguins—often simply called the Pens.

Pittsburgh star forward Sidney Crosby, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs’ most valuable player, scored 19 points—6 goals and 13 assists—through the Pens’ 24-game playoff run. He had 2 assists in Sunday’s championship clincher. “It’s special,” Crosby said about the MVP trophy. “It’s the one you play for.” The Penguins also received valuable ice time from forwards Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin, defenseman Kris Letang, and rookie goaltender Matthew Murray.

Penguins owner and Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Mario Lemieux (himself a two-time Conn Smythe winner while leading the Pens to back-to-back titles in 1991 and 1992) lifted the Stanley Cup during the postgame celebration. “It’s so hard to win it year after year,” Lemieux said, referencing the team’s playoff failures since their most recent title in 2009. “Hopefully there’s a few more for them.”

It was quite a turnaround for the Steel City’s flightless birds, which languished near the bottom of the NHL’s Eastern Conference before firing coach Mike Johnston and hiring Mike Sullivan in December 2015. Sullivan’s changes improved the Penguins’ pace of play and empowered Crosby as a leader. Crosby finished the 2015-2016 regular season ranked third in points behind Chicago’s Patrick Kane and Dallas’s Jamie Benn.

Pittsburgh reached the Stanley Cup Final by defeating the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals in the playoffs’ first two rounds, then dispatching the Tampa Bay Lightning in a hard-fought 7-game series for the Eastern Conference title. The nimble Pens then overwhelmed the Western Conference champion Sharks, taking leads in 5 of the 6 games.

The Sharks, who were playing in their first Stanley Cup Final, looked tired at times against the faster Penguins. Centers Joe Thornton and Logan Couture and goalie Martin Jones were standouts on the losing side. The Sharks reached the Final by defeating the talented St. Louis Blues 4 games to 2 for the Western Conference title. The Sharks had earlier outlasted the burly Los Angeles Kings and the Nashville Predators.

June 16, 2015

For the third time in six seasons, Chicago is the center of the hockey universe. The Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning last night 2-0, winning the National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup finals four games to two. As they had in many previous games, stars Duncan Keith, Patrick Kane, and Corey Crawford led the team to victory in this final contest.

Chicago Blackhawk Duncan Keith celebrates after scoring in the second period against goaltender Ben Bishop of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in game six of the finals at the United Center on June 15, 2015, in Chicago, Illinois. (Credit: © Scott Audette, NHLI/Getty Images)

The Stanley Cup trophy is annually awarded to the team that wins the NHL championship. It is the oldest trophy in professional sports competition in North America. In 1893, Baron Stanley of Preston, the governor general of Canada, donated a silver bowl to be annually awarded to the amateur hockey champions of Canada. Professional teams in the National Hockey Association (reorganized into the NHL in 1917) began competing for the trophy in 1910. The Stanley Cup has been under the control of the NHL since 1926.

The Stanley Cup consists of a replica of Baron Stanley’s original bowl mounted on a large trophy. It weighs 32 pounds (14.5 kilograms) and stands 35 1/4 inches (89.5 centimeters) high. After accepting the trophy from league officials, team captain Jonathan Toews triumphantly hoisted it over his head and skated around the United Center, before passing it to his teammates to do the same.

The Blackhawks and Lightning, who both fought through three grueling play-off rounds to make it to the finals, represent different aspects of the NHL. The Chicago Blackhawks are a popular, established franchise, one of the “original six” teams to play in the NHL. The Tampa Bay Lightning are a smaller-market expansion team formed in 1992. The Blackhawks have many veteran players with play-off experience. The Lightning are one of the youngest teams in the NHL. In winning the Cup, the ‘Hawks cemented their legacy as a modern hockey dynasty. Many experts think the Lightning have the potential to succeed in the near future. But the future will have to wait while Chicago celebrates.

Other World Book articles:

• Chicago (2010-a Back in time article)
• Hockey (2010-a Back in time article)
• Hockey (2013-a Back in time article)