"That's what we've talked about, hey, it's all well and good to one day put on your gravestone that you won a Stanley Cup, but to do it two years in a row, multiple times, you're talking about now your team is special," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Years down the road, they say, 'Well, that Tampa team during some time was a hell of a team,' and I think you can really put your stamp on that if you win another one."
The Lightning, Stanley Cup champions last year, showcased their desire to be special in a
1-0 win
in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Semifinals against the New York Islanders at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida on Friday.
It was exactly the type of game the Lightning have learned how to win in the past two postseasons after failing to get the message for so many years.
RELATED: [Complete Islanders vs. Lightning series coverage]
They used to be the run and gun and fun Lightning, the team that would score nearly four goals per game in the regular season but routinely get shut down in big moments in the playoffs, like their previous two Game 7s; a 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2016 Eastern Conference Final and a 4-0 loss to the Washington Capitals in the 2018 conference final.
Now they're the resilient Lightning, the team that doesn't lose two in a row in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, that doesn't make the same mistakes, that always digs deep to win in whatever way is necessary when it matters most.
"That was just a textbook Game 7," said goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who made 18 saves for his NHL-record fourth straight shutout in a series clinching game.