Unheralded Lightning prove they belong

The NHL playoffs have been a roller coaster of excitement, punctuated by two Game 7s over the weekend to decide the Stanley Cup finalists.

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, but it’s even 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 the Lightning barreled through three 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.

There’s no argument, though, over whether the Lightning belong.

By scoring in bunches to give two of the NHL’s top goalies — Montreal’s Carey Price and New York’s Henrik Lundqvist — fits.

By overcoming a 3-2 series deficit to oust Detroit in the first round.

[...] with Ben Bishop joining Patrick Roy (2002) and Tim Thomas (2011) as the only goalies to have two Game 7 shutouts in the same postseason.

“You shine the light bright on our guys, and they’ll just put on sunglasses and walk right through it,” Cooper said.

The Lightning are the first team since the 1988 Boston Bruins to make the Stanley Cup Finals after being swept in the opening round of the previous year’s playoffs.

Tampa Bay beat Calgary in seven games to win its only NHL championship in 2004.

“I am really proud of what we accomplished,” defenseman Anton Stralman said.

Regular-season success doesn’t always carry over to the playoffs.

[...] in Tampa Bay’s case, going unbeaten against Montreal and the Rangers en route to compiling the best record in franchise history gave the Lightning confidence they could do well against Price and Lundqvist when the stakes were raised.

Stanley Cup Finals