Stanley Cup appearance for Game 1 sets tone for unique Final

Traditionally, the players don't lay their eyes on the prize until the Stanley Cup Final is over, the ceremonial music plays and the Hockey Hall of Fame representatives carry it onto the ice in white gloves.

But this …
Well, this is 2020.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the NHL has tried to honor its traditions while thinking outside the box to stage the Stanley Cup Playoffs in extraordinary circumstances, and so there it was, the Stanley Cup, out of its case, shining upon a pedestal on a platform above the ice before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday.
"Told the guys, 'Maybe we just steal it and run?'" Stars goalie Anton Khudobin said in Russian.
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Khudobin helped steal Game 1 for the Stars, making 35 saves, including 22 in the third period, for a 4-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Rogers Place in Edmonton, the hub city for the best-of-7 series. Game 2 is there Monday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS).
"We have always wanted to bring the Cup out for the first game, and this year seemed like the right time given the unique environment," NHL chief content officer Steve Mayer said. "When we approached the teams with the idea, they liked it. We kept it there for the first period, and we will next bring it back to hand to the winning captain."

Don't forget how we got here: The NHL paused the season March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus. Together with the NHL Players' Association, it came up with a Return to Play Plan featuring an unprecedented 24-team tournament in a bubble with no fans in the stands.
In weeks, Mayer's staff had to plan an event that dwarfed, say, an NHL Winter Classic, a one-game, one-venue event that takes a year to plan. OK. Twelve teams at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Twelve teams at Rogers Place in Edmonton. Then the conference finals and the Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Place in Edmonton. Go.
With no live audience, they had to tailor this for a TV audience, so they covered seats, erected giant video screens and added concert lighting. They didn't make the best of a bad situation. They turned a bad situation into something spectacular.
And for the Stanley Cup Final, the biggest, most important event on the NHL calendar, whether the actual calendar reads June or September, their challenge was to take it up another notch, to make it feel as special as it deserves.
When the players took the ice Saturday, they had Stanley Cup Final patches on their jerseys and passed Stanley Cup Final signage in the hall. Beneath the words "STANLEY CUP" inside the blue lines in each zone, there was a new word: "FINAL." There were Stanley Cup Final logos on the seat covers and signs surrounding the rink.
A video montage played to the "The Greatest Show" by Panic! at the Disco, showing highlights of each team's journey to this moment. A message flashed on the scoreboard screen: "THE FINAL STARTS NOW."
"Ladies and gentlemen watching from home, welcome to Edmonton, Alberta," the PA announcer said. "Since Aug. 1, 24 teams have been competing for the most coveted trophy in all of sports, the Stanley Cup."
Out walked Phil Pritchard, the Keeper of the Cup. In his white gloves, he placed it on the pedestal. There it was, the prize for which the players had worked for 56 days in the bubble while isolated from family and friends and the rest of the outside world, the prize for which they would fight for the next fortnight.
At least some coaches and players at least claimed not to lay eyes on it, sounding as if they had a superstition like not laying hands on it before winning it.
"Didn't see it; doesn't matter," said Stars coach Rick Bowness, who lost in the Stanley Cup Final as an associate with the Vancouver Canucks in 2011 and as an assistant with the Lightning in 2015. "The only thing that matters is the next game. I've been to the [Final] a couple times. I know the Cup's going to be around. You don't even worry about it. You can't afford to think about those things."

The starting lineups were introduced. Madison Beer sang the U.S. anthem, and Tenille Townes sang the Canada anthem, except they were there virtually.
After the pageantry, the puck dropped. Khudobin made save after save.
Joel Hanley
, Jamie Oleksiak, Joel Kiviranta and Jason Dickinson combined for four goals for Dallas after combining for 13 goals in the regular season. Almost all the postgame questions from the media were about the game, not the bubble, not the historic situation.
"Obviously, when you walk into the rink, they've got some banners up," Stars forward Blake Comeau said. "Signs are around. You see the [logos] on your clothes. But other than that, it felt like another game, and that's how we wanted to approach it. We wanted to go out and enjoy the moment, have fun."
That's a compliment. In these abnormal times, it felt, well, normal.