The Tampa Bay Lightning Finals!

Tampa Bay Lightning punch ticket to Finals in hopes for Stanley Cup threepeat!

Following a 4-2 win over the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference finals Saturday, the Bolts are back in the Stanley Cup Finals! Next up, Tampa Bay will face the Colorado Avalanche beginning Wednesday night in Denver.

 But for the Lightning, things like this are just sort of what they do. Anyone else's reaction after going down 0-2 to the Rangers would have been surprising. Throughout the playoffs, the Bolts have played like a team that has experienced this before, and that's because they have.

After winning back-to-back championships in 2020 and 2021, the Lightning are now in position to defend their title and become the first threepeat Stanley Cup Champions in 40 years. However, regardless of how impressive their third-straight Finals appearance may be, Tampa Bay will have to be a more consistent team than it has been for most of the year.

As one of the best teams in the NHL so far this season, the Avalanche have been plagued by bad luck and injury problems. In the two times they met during the regular season, the Avs came away wins in both Denver and Tampa. Colorado won the first meeting 4-3 in October at Amalie Arena, then took a 3-2 decision in February’s game in Denver.

Colorado has won its three playoffs series 4-0, 4-2, and 4-0, coming into the Finals on an absolute heater. The Bolts struggled in the opening round but are now 8-2 in their last 10 games! 

The first two games of the Finals will be hosted in Denver and the Bolts return home for games three and four on Monday, June 20th and Wednesday, June 22nd. All games begin at 8 pm! You do NOT want to miss this season for the Bolts!