Tampa Bay Lightning clear mental hurdles to win the Stanley Cup

The Tampa Bay Lightning overcame last year’s humiliation to lift the Stanley Cup in 2020.

The Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup on Monday night, putting away the Dallas Stars 2-0 in Game 6.

Brayden Point opened the scoring on a powerplay in the first period while Blake Coleman found the net in the second. Andrei Vaseilevskiy made 22 saves in goal as Tampa Bay shut out Dallas.

It was a victory that was more mental than physical. The Lightning were the favorites for the start, but they were battling some serious demons.

After all, you don’t soon forget tying the NHL record for victories in a season only to be thoroughly trounced in a first-round playoff sweep to a No. 8 seed. That’s what happened to Tampa Bay in the 2019 playoffs.

The 2020 playoffs were different, and not just because they were held in a bubble after a global pandemic shut down the NHL season.

The Tampa Bay Lightning fought through 2019’s embarrassment for 2020’s triumph.

The playoffs opened with the Lightning exorcising their demons against the Blue Jackets, who had embarrassed them last year. Tampa Bay won in five games to avoid another first-round exit.

Things may have felt dicey when they dropped Game 1 to the Boston Bruins in the second round but turned things around and won two overtime games in the next four to take the series.

Tampa Bay needed another overtime game to move past the Islanders in the Eastern Conference Finals. They did it though, winning the series 4-2.

In their first Stanley Cup Final appearance since losing to the Blackhawks in 2015, the Lightning were blasted in Game 1 against the Stars 4-1. The series might have taken on a nightmarish complexion at that point. However, Tampa Bay never let it get out of hand. They went on to win three in a row before letting Dallas hang around after a double-overtime victory in Game 5. When it came to Game 6, they left no doubt.