Everything you need to know about Game 5 of the Stanley Cup, including what channel is Stanley Cup Finals on and more.
For the second year in a row, and the third time in franchise history, the Tampa Bay Lightning have a chance to raise Lord Stanley’s Cup.
Only three times since 1990 has a team won back-to-back Stanley Cups, as Tampa Bay has a chance to join hockey royalty like the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings — the last two teams to go back-to-back. But standing in their way are the Montreal Canadiens, a team with its own Stanley Cup history and a thirst to restore the glory of years past.
The Habs hadn’t been to the Stanley Cup since 1993, coincidentally the last time the Cup was in Quebec. Before that the Canadiens were winners of 23 Stanley Cups, but that 24th created a drought that was only broken this year by a miracle run to the franchise’s 35th Stanley Cup appearance.
For comparison, the Lighting are in the fourth Stanley Cup but have a stout record of 2-1 so far. All signs point to that record improving, as the Lightning had dominated the series up until Game 4.
Even in that loss, Tampa Bay looked fierce and the Canadiens will need another stroke of miracle magic to pull out a victory. But should that happen, the scales of the series will start to tilt toward Canada.
Montreal strung together wins throughout the playoffs to land itself in the Stanley Cup. They’re outmatched and outclassed by a far superior Tampa Bay team, but stranger things have happened in the playoffs and the Canadiens finding their rhythm and bouncing back in this series is the stuff hockey lore is made of.
What channel is Stanley Cup Finals on?
The Lightning and Canadiens will square off for the fourth time on NBC at 8:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday night. Streaming options for the Game 5 action include Fubo, Peacock and NBC Sports Extra.
Need something else? You can always check out the NHL streams subreddit community for direction.