VICTOR HEDMAN

Cale Makar has won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP after leading the Colorado Avalanche to their first Stanley Cup title since 2001 and third in franchise history.

The Tampa Bay Lightning didn’t relinquish their stronghold on the Stanley Cup without a fight.

Nazem Kadri scored at 12:02 of overtime — perhaps with too many Colorado players on the ice — and the Avalanche beat Tampa Bay 3-2 on Wednesday night in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final to move within a victory of dethroning the two-time defending champion Lightning.

Toronto’s Auston Matthews won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player, beating out Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers to win the award for the first time.

Steven Stamkos, Pat Maroon and Ondrej Palat each had a goal and an assist, and the Tampa Bay Lightning scored four times in the second period and beat the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Steven Stamkos, Pat Maroon and Ondrej Palat each had a goal and an assist, and the Tampa Bay Lightning scored four times in the second period and beat the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.

“Mr. Game 7” is back in the Stanley Cup Final, but in a much different role than before.

The Stanley Cup Final between the Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning shows the value of hitting on top picks in the NHL draft.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have made it to the NHL Finals for the third year.

Lightning Avalanche Hockey Tampa Bay Lightning players skate during an NHL hockey practice before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Colorado Avalanche, Tuesday, June 14, 2022, in Denver. The Colorado Avalanche present a unique challenge for the Lightning, but they already got past the offensively potent Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers to reach the Cup final. “You have to play the game different ways at times. Tampa Bay's 2.41 goals against this postseason is the lowest of any team that made it past the first round. “We have enough skill and talent to score offensively, but we focus on our defensive game,” winger Alex Killorn said.

The Stanley Cup Final is a showdown between the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning and the high-scoring Colorado Avalanche.

At 32 and wrapping up his 14th season, Steven Stamkos is no longer one of the NHL’s most prolific scorers or even the second- or third-best player on his own team.

Stamkos called the Avalanche “probably the best team in the league” and knows the Lightning will have their hands full slowing down the offensive juggernaut that leads the postseason in scoring. It’s perhaps the biggest challenge yet for the Lightning since this unprecedented run of playoff success in the salary cap era began two years ago. The Lightning are looking to become the first to three-peat since the New York Islanders won the Cup four times in a row from 1980-83. San Jose’s Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, the Rangers’ Henrik Lundqvist and many others only reached the final once. It is well-established for the Lightning, to the point Stamkos brought it up unprompted Saturday night and sounded just like Messier.

The two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning face the best in the West Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Final beginning Wednesday in Denver.

Vasilevskiy also gloved a shot by Kevin Rooney with about eight minutes left. After a Lightning turnover, Motte fired a long shot that was gloved and smothered by Vasilevskiy with just under three minutes left to keep it a one-goal game. New York had the only shot on goal of first 5 1/2 minutes, a slap shot by Braden Schneider 1:42 into the game. Chytil left Tuesday night’s game just past the midpoint of the second period after a hit by Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman. The Lightning were without forward Brayden Point (lower body injury) for a ninth straight game.

Mikhail Sergachev scored his second goal of the game with 1:50 remaining to break a tie and lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday night for a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference final.

The New York Rangers have been in a similar position before in this postseason — looking to reverse the momentum back home after dropping two games on the road.

Nikita Kucherov scored on a breakaway and Andrei Vasilevskiy had 33 saves , helping the Tampa Bay Lightning shut down the New York Rangers 4-1 and even the NHL’s Eastern Conference final at two games apiece.

Filip Chytil scored twice in the second period and the New York Rangers routed the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2 on Wednesday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Jack Campbell stopped 32 of 36 shots for the Maple Leafs, who are chasing their first playoff series win in 18 years. The Maple Leafs, who've been eliminated in the first round each of the past five seasons, are 0-for-their-last-8 in close-out games. The Maple Leafs rallied to win Game 5 at home, overcoming an early two-goal deficit and scoring three times in the third period to win 4-3 and take a 3-2 series lead. It looked like one goal might stand through the end of the period until the Maple Leafs mounted a another charge in the final minute. His second goal gave the Maple Leafs the lead with just eight seconds left before the second intermission.

Brayden Point scored on a rebound with 1:56 remaining in overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs and force a Game 7 in the first round playoff series between the Atlantic Division rivals.

(Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP) (Frank Gunn)Turns out a two-goal lead is the safest lead in the first round of the NHL playoffs. The first week of the NHL playoffs has been a stark contrast to the regular season that was full of multigoal comebacks and furious finishes. “In the regular season, you’re just not as dialed in and you have some teams that just don’t do it that often. Almost a quarter of all goals have come on the power play, up from 19% in the regular season. “You can throw the scores out,” Minnesota coach Dean Evason said midway through his team’s series against rival St. Louis.

APTOPIX Lightning Maple Leafs Hockey Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman (77) celebrates his goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs with center Steven Stamkos (91) during the first period of Game 2 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs first-round series Wednesday, May 4, 2022, in Toronto. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP) (Frank Gunn)TORONTO — (AP) — Victor Hedman had a goal and three assists for his first four-point playoff game and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3 on Wednesday night in Game 2 to even the first-round series. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves in a bounce-back performance after the Lightning dropped the opener 5-0. The Lightning opened the scoring on a power play with 1.4 seconds left in the first period. Marner got one back for Toronto with 8:07 left and Kerfoot scored the Maple Leafs’ second short-handed goal of the series with 4:17.

For a team accustomed to winning — not only the Stanley Cup the past two years but in the regular season at a high level — it has been a challenging few weeks. After coaching Tampa Bay on several long runs, missing the postseason entirely, enduring a stunning first-round sweep and then hoisting the Cup twice, Jon Cooper understands the answer won’t be clear until after the regular season. With that comes fatigue but also the perspective of what the regular season means in the grand scheme of trying to win a championship. The experience of that series undoubtedly played some role in Tampa Bay winning it all the past two years. Cooper called it a “pivotal” game, and a few more like it stand in the way before Tampa Bay can even try for the three-peat.

The Tampa Bay Lightning haven't been through struggles like this in many years.

Victor Hedman scored twice, Mikhail Sergachev had a goal and two assists and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Chicago Blackhawks 6-3 on Sunday night. Hedman, Corey Perry and Sergachev scored Tampa Bay's last three goals in a 32-second span in the third. “We were shooting pucks, and good things happen,” Hedman said.

Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman won the Hardest Shot competition and St. Louis’ Jordan Kyrou was the Fastest Skater during an NHL All-Star skills competition with a distinct Vegas flavor.

Most of the world’s best hockey players are spending this weekend in Las Vegas instead of the Olympic village in Beijing.

Washington star Alexander Ovechkin and high-scoring Edmonton teammates Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl headline the rosters for the NHL All-Star Weekend announced Thursday.

A handful of NHL players are voicing frustration over the decision not to allow them to go to the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Ondrej Palat scored 36 seconds into overtime after Tampa Bay teammate Corey Perry tied it late in the third period, and the Lightning beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 in the first NHL game following an extended holiday break.

The Washington Capitals-Philadelphia Flyers game scheduled for Tuesday night has been postponed.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves, Anthony Cirelli had a goal and two assists, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat Washington 3-2 to end the Capitals’ eight-game season-opening point streak.

National Hockey League players are set to return to the Olympics in Beijing this winter after reaching an agreement with international officials. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File) (Matt Slocum)NHL players are set to return to the Olympics in Beijing this winter after reaching an agreement with international officials. As long as that does not happen, NHL players will compete in the Olympic men's hockey tournament for the sixth time in seven chances dating to 1998. It is similar to the 1998 Nagano Games when the All-Star festivities in Vancouver led into the first Olympics with NHL players. NHL players at the Olympics became commonplace in the years after that, with the IOC agreeing to pay travel and insurance costs and owners willing to pause the season for players to take part in the tournament.

NHL players are going back to the Olympics.

... And we’re not satisfied until that’s done.”The quick-strike Lightning took one major step closer on Friday night with a resounding 6-3 rout of the Montreal Canadiens in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. Tampa Bay caught the Canadiens flat-footed by scoring twice in the opening minutes of each of the first two periods to take a 3-0 series lead. Jan Rutta and Blake Coleman, with an empty-netter, also scored for the Lightning, who also won the Cup in 2004. Phillip Danault and Corey Perry also scored for a Montreal team that felt disrespected in making its deepest playoff run since winning its 24th Cup. One of Ducharme’s first moves was to spend Montreal’s only timeout after the Lightning scored 1:35 apart to build a 2-0 lead 3:27 in.

(Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press via AP) (Paul Chiasson)MONTREAL — (AP) — The quick-strike Tampa Lightning struck for two early second-period goals to build a 4-2 lead over the Montreal Canadiens entering the third period Friday night in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. Nikita Kucherov and Tyler Johnson scored on early odd-man rushes 1:53 apart for the defending champion Lightning, who have a 2-0 series lead. The Lightning have scored the first goal in each of the three games of a series in which the Canadiens have yet to hold a lead. Kucherov scored 1:40 into the second period after Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak caught the Canadiens sleeping on a line change. The Lightning were without forward Alex Killorn, who missed his second game with an undisclosed injury.

Stanley Cup Hockey Tampa Bay Lightning's Jan Rutta (44) celebrates his goal against the Montreal Canadiens with Ondrej Palat (18) and Victor Hedman (77) during the first period of Game 3 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final, Friday, July 2, 2021, in Montreal. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press via AP) (Paul Chiasson)MONTREAL — (AP) — Jan Rutta and Victor Hedman scored in an early 1:35 span and the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning led the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 after one period Friday night in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. The Canadiens responded with Phillip Danault scoring with 8:44 left in the period in the first Stanley Cup Final game in Montreal since the Canadiens won their 24th title in Game 5 against the Wayne Gretzky-led Los Angeles Kings on June 9, 1993. The Lightning lead the series 2-0 and have scored the first goal in each of the three games. The Lightning were without forward Alex Killorn, who missed his second game with an undisclosed injury.

Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid ran away in the voting to win his second Hart Trophy as NHL MVP after leading the league in points.

The defending champions advanced to a Stanley Cup Final matchup against the surprising Montreal Canadiens, who upset the Vegas Golden Knights in the other semifinal. Vasilevskiy turned away seven shots in the final period to post his fifth career playoff shutout — fourth this postseason. The Islanders, who were aiming for their first Stanley Cup Final berth in 37 years, forced a winner-take-all showdown by rallying to win Game 6 on Anthony Beauvillier’s overtime goal. GAME 7sThe Islanders fell to 4-6 all-time in Game 7s, 4-5 on the road. The Islanders were trying to earn their first Stanley Cup Final berth since 1984.

Andrei Vasilevskiy had 18 saves and Yanni Gourde scored a short-handed goal to help the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the New York Islanders 1-0 in Game 7 of their NHL playoff semifinal series.

Matt Martin capped New York’s three-goal second period, Ryan Pulock made a diving stop in front of an open goal in the closing seconds and the Islanders held on to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 to even their Stanley Cup semifinal series at two games apiece.

Brayden Point kept up his scoring touch with a tiebreaking goal late in the second period, Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 27 shots and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the New York Islanders 2-1 on Thursday night to take a 2-1 lead in the Stanley Cup semifinals.

Kucherov had his fourth game with three or more points this postseason, assisting on goals by Point, Palat and Victor Hedman. Point scored a goal for the fifth straight game, hiking his league-leading playoff total to 10. ON POINTPoint has 10 goals in 13 games this postseason after setting a Lightning franchise playoff record with 14 during last year’s Stanley Cup run. The 25-year-old center scored off a nifty no-look pass from Kucherov, who delivered the puck from behind the net. Kucherov’s three assists boosted his league-leading playoff point total to 21 after missing the entire regular season while recovering from hip surgery.

Brayden Point and Ondrej Palat delivered early goals and NHL playoff scoring leader Nikita Kucherov had three more assists to help the Tampa Bay Lightning rebound from a series-opening loss and beat the New York Islanders 4-2 in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup semifinals.

(AP Photo/Gerry Broome) (Gerry Broome)TAMPA, Fla. — (AP) — Experience is an invaluable ally in the Stanley Cup playoffs. There’s little the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning haven’t encountered during deep postseason runs five of the past seven years. The New York Islanders haven’t achieved as much but have progressed enough in three seasons under Barry Trotz to not feel like heavy underdogs in the Stanley Cup semifinals. Mathew Barzal (three goals, six assists) centers the top line with Leo Komarov and Jordan Eberle (three goals, five assists), followed by Brock Nelson (six goals, four assists) centering veteran Josh Bailey (five goals, six assists) and the speedy Anthony Beauvillier (four goals, seven assists). However, New York held the rest of the Bruins to just seven goals.

Experience is an invaluable ally in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid, Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews and Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon have been named finalists for the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP.

The star-studded Tampa Bay Lightning beam when talking about the contributions of Barclay Goodrow, a physical third-line forward playing a largely unheralded role in the team’s bid to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.

Alex Killorn and Anthony Cirelli scored while Andrei Vasilevskiy was strong in net once again, helping the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 for a 2-0 lead in their second-round playoff series.

Barclay Goodrow beat Alex Nedeljkovic for the go-ahead goal at 12:39 of the third period to help the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 to open their second-round playoff series.

Andrei Vasilevskiy wrapped up a series with a Game 6 shutout for the second straight time, stopping 29 shots in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 4-0 victory over the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night.

... We kind of sat back a little bit too much I thought” in the third period," said Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman, who had three assists. Anthony Cirelli, Ross Colton and Steven Stamkos scored in the first nine minutes of the second period. “Obviously not the second period we were looking for, but we know how good of a team we are. We were down 5-3 after that second period and we get the W,” Bobrovsky said. NICE TO BE HOMEThe Lightning played a playoff game at home for the first time since April 12, 2019, vs. Columbus.

Ryan Lomberg scored on a breakaway 5:56 into overtime to cap a furious comeback and give the Florida Panthers a 6-5 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of their first-round playoff matchup.

The first-ever playoff game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers could be tough to top.

Brayden Point scored two late goals, including the game-winner with 1:14 left in the third period, to lift the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning over the Florida Panthers 5-4 to take Game 1 of their playoff series.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning went into the NHL trade deadline without much money to make a move.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 stops to move to 12-0 lifetime against Detroit and lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 2-1 victory.

Columbus Blue Jackets players celebrate their goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)COLUMBUS, Ohio – Hours after trading disgruntled center Pierre-Luc Dubois, the Columbus Blue Jackets got three first-period goals and beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2 Saturday. Nick Foligno, Mikhail Grigorenko, Vladislav Gavrikov, Zach Werenski and Eric Robinson scored, and Elvis Merzlikins had 30 saves as the Blue Jackets played their most explosive game of the season. The Blue Jackets tied it 17 seconds later when Foligno knocked in a rebound off Vasilevsky's stick. The Blue Jackets host the Florida Panthers on Tuesday and Thursday.

The triumph of winning the NHL championship in a bubble was certainly no less sweet for the Tampa Bay Lightning. He played 964 regular-season and 137 playoff games to get to this point, losing in the final twice before. Tampa Bay had Point and No. Coach Jon Cooper thought the attitude needed to change from wanting to beat every opponent 9-0 because that’s not realistic in playoff hockey. ... Alexander Volkov made his NHL playoff debut for Tampa Bay, which also saw Patrick Maroon become just the eighth player to win the Cup in back-to-back seasons with different teams (St. Louis).

This is a Stanley Cup matchup for all of those who like their games to be a bit defensive. “In today’s NHL you need that for your team to be successful,” Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh said Friday. “We're not surprised,” Stars defenseman John Klingberg said. ... He’s doing it all right now.”The Stars signed 14-year veteran Andrej Sekera as a free agent last summer, and he is finally in his first Stanley Cup Final with his fifth team. “Everyone is obviously very hungry to go all of the way,” said Hedman, part of Tampa Bay's loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Final five years ago.

TORONTO, ONT Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper took exception to the Columbus Blue Jackets being referred to as a blue-collar team. Is that a positive or a negative? Cooper said Monday, a day before his Eastern Conference second-seeded Lightning open the first round of the NHL playoffs against the seventh-seeded Blue Jackets. Thats in the history books forever, Cooper said, noting how both teams have made various changes to their lineups. Id call them a really good team.Familiarity is breeding respect among the East opponents entering the first round. The Islanders hold a 5-2 playoff series edge over Washington.