The Tampa Bay Lightning capped off a long few months inside the NHL bubble by winning the Stanley Cup on Monday night with a 2-0 victory over the Dallas Stars in Game 6 of the series in Edmonton.
It’s the Lightning’s first Stanley Cup since 2004 and it comes a year after they were swept out of the first round of the playoffs in stunning fashion after finishing the season with the best record in hockey.
So this one meant even more to the guys who had to go through that and then had to battle through a long time in the bubble in Canada.
Here they are celebrating after the final horn, which was pretty awesome and felt like a normal Stanley Cup celebration:
THE MOMENT WE BECAME CHAMPS 🏆 pic.twitter.com/B6g0ctLsxc
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) September 29, 2020
CELLY ON, @TBLightning. IT'S YOURS! #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/NQzcjpCtjh
— NHL (@NHL) September 29, 2020
Then they held the whole trophy presentation in an empty arena and while it was well done, it’s just so weird to see them celebrating in an empty arena. It was also weird to not hear anyone boo Gary Bettman:
LIFT. THAT. CUP!!!! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/35PnR8gfLf
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) September 29, 2020
Surreal, right? While it’s not an ideal setting by any means, it was still fun to see them celebrating the Cup:
What. A. Moment. #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/XLvQKU9fmk
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) September 29, 2020
Congrats to the Lightning.