@jayRecher
The Stanley Cup STAYS in the Sunshine State!
The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 in Game 5 on Wednesday night at Amalie Arena to win their second straight Stanley Cup and third in franchise history.
Ross Colton scored the lone goal for the Lightning and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves for his 6th career playoff shutout and 5th straight in a series-clinching game.
Vasilevskiy was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy for being the MVP of Tampa Bay's incredible postseason run.
Neither team scored in an eventful 1st period with the Lightning outshooting the Canadiens 13-4, but the Bolts were finally able to break through with one of the two players who were in the lineup that didn't hoist the Cup last year.
After some fantastic work along the boards by Anthony Cirelli and Steven Stamkos, the puck squirted out to Ryan McDonagh at the left point. McDonagh made his way to the middle of the ice and fed the puck to David Savard pinching in from the right side. Savard quickly fired a pass to the front of the net that was deflected by Colton past Montreal goalie Carey Price to give Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead at 13:27.
The Lightning defense locked it down the rest of the way and the Canadiens just couldn't find a way to put a puck past Vasilevskiy.
Vasy's counterpart Price stopped 29 of the 30 shots he saw on the evening.
Head on over to my Twitter (@jayRecher) for all of the videos from tonight's Stanley Cup clinching victory and go to the 953WDAE Facebook page (Facebook.com/953WDAE) to see the Facebook LIVE of the Stanley Cup laps!!
Go Bolts!
*****
SCORING SUMMARY
1st Period
NONE
2nd Period
- Tampa Bay - Colton - (Savard, McDonagh) - 13:27
3rd Period
NONE
*****
PENALTY SUMMARY
1st Period
- Montreal - Perry - (Hooking) - 3:21
- Tampa Bay - Rutta - (Cross Checking) - 7:19
- Montreal - Perry - (Embellishment) - 8:15
- Tampa Bay - Cernak - (Cross Checking) - 8:15
- Montreal - Anderson - (Hooking) - 8:43
2nd Period
- Tampa Bay - Savard - (Delay of Game) - 0:21
- Tampa Bay - Sergachev - (Tripping) - 8:32
- Montreal - Chiarot - (Holding) - 19:22
3rd Period
NONE
Photo: Getty Images North America
PHOTO : Getty Images