TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – The NHL playoffs have been a roller coaster of excitement, punctuated by a pair of Game 7s over the weekend to decide the Stanley Cup finalists.
It’ll be Tampa Bay vs. Chicago in the best-of-seven series that begins Wednesday night, with the tradition-rich Blackhawks aiming for a third title in six years.
Some might say it would be better theater or more interesting to have New York represented on the sport’s biggest stage rather than one of the league’s smaller markets, but don’t sell the Eastern Conference champion Lightning short when it comes to hockey appeal.
The NHL is not only alive in the football-crazed South, it’s thriving on the west coast of Florida, where an entertaining band of young stars and a hot goalie have packed Amalie Arena game after game while barreling through three other Original Six franchises to reach the Cup final for the second time.
While the Blackhawks have Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, the Lightning feature two-time NHL goal-scoring champion Steven Stamkos and the youthful, but dynamic “Triplets” line of Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov, who are rapidly making names for themselves.