Unlimited celebration: Tampa wins the Stanley Cup again

The approximately 18.000 spectators in the Amalie Arena in Tampa completely freaked out. Every stick, foot or body that got in the way of a puck fired by the Montreal Canadiens was celebrated frenetically - and then the Tampa Bay Lightning's title defense was complete. With a 1-0 win in a hard-fought fifth final game, they brought the record champions from Canada to their knees and won the series 4-1.

In front of their own fans, who were only able to watch the triumph in September last year from a distance. Corona. But now the season ended in the best ice hockey league in the world, which once again had to struggle with the effects of the pandemic until the end, with the same images that there were from the European Football Championship: people hugging in the stands and happy people , sweaty athletes on the pitch.

“These players have had to work under the most difficult conditions. Not just last season, also this season,” said NHL boss Gary Bettman on Wednesday evening (local time) before handing over the Stanley Cup to Lightning captain Steven Stamkos. "It's incredible. “It’s such a cliché, but there are no words,” said Stamkos after the 1-0 win against the record champions thanks to Ross Colton’s goal. "It is great."

Since the introduction of the salary cap in the National Hockey League in 2005, only the Pittsburgh Penguins have won this world-famous trophy in two consecutive years. For the Lightning, it is the third title in their history.

New divisions, no main round games between teams from Canada and the USA, a strict testing regiment, distance rules in changing rooms, hardly any freedom of movement in away games - the NHL tried to make the season possible with many measures in the midst of the pandemic, but still repeatedly reached its limits. There were outbreaks in teams several times, 52 games had to be postponed due to the virus, a dozen of them several times. A season like no other The effects were felt right up to the final series; only 3500 fans saw games three and four in Montreal in the ice rink; the authorities in Canada did not allow more. But in Florida, which had already allowed 24.385 spectators into the stadium for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Super Bowl victory against the Kansas City Chiefs in February, there were more and more spectators as the playoffs progressed.

Players and fans celebrated each other after the success. One professional in the blue jersey with the white numbers after the other made a solo lap around the ice with the trophy held high above their head and celebrated. Alex Killorn, who was no longer in action after being injured after a full physical effort in a blocked shot in the first game, filmed himself during another lap of honor with the fans behind the plexiglass and said with a view to the victory against the team from his home country: “I know I don't even know if I can come back. But I’ll let everyone know when I get there.”

Pat Maroon also got his share of applause, becoming only the fourth player in league history to win the Stanley Cup in three consecutive years. In 2019 he won the cup with the St. Louis Blues, and now in 2020 and 2021 with the Lightning. NHL boss Gary Bettman handed over the trophy for the most valuable player in the final series to Lightning goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevskiy. All of Canada kept its fingers crossed For the Canadiens, however, the season ended in great disappointment after their fourth defeat in the fifth game of the final series. As the team with the fewest main round victories of any team in the playoffs, they were the underdogs in every series, but with each passing day the belief that the 28-year drought for Canadian teams was ending grew. Since the NHL record champions won the last of 1993 finals in 24, no team from the motherland of ice hockey has lifted the Stanley Cup. Next attempt: 2022.

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Unlimited celebration: Tampa wins the Stanley Cup again

The NHL season is over. At the end of a season that has been in constant battle with the coronavirus pandemic, the Tampa Bay Lightning are defending the championship in the best ice hockey league in the world. For an entire country, however, the wait continues.

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