The Lightning earn a shot at the Canadiens and back-to-back Stanley Cups: ‘It’s going to be so exciting”

It will be the Tampa Bay Lightning against the Montreal Canadiens for the Stanley Cup.

Yanni Gourde’s short-handed goal and an 18-save shutout by Andrei Vasilevskiy led the Lightning past the New York Islanders 1-0 on Friday night in Game 7 of their Stanley Cup semifinal.

Tampa will be looking for its third Stanley Cup, and second in a row. The Pittsburgh Penguins are the last team to win back-to-back (2016-17). The Canadiens have 24 Cups to their credit.

“Buckle up for another great series and try to go do it all again, because it’s the best time in the world,” Lightning captain Steve Stamkos said after Friday’s win at Amalie Arena.

Tampa, by virtue of a 75-point season, will have home-ice advantage and host Game 1 on Monday night. The Canadiens finished with 59 points in the 56-game pandemic-shortened schedule.

“They’ve been on a great run,” Stamkos said of the Canadiens. “They’re going to get the best team that they played against so far, and we’re going to get the best team that we played. You don’t get to the finals by luck. Every team that gets there deserves it and they’ve had an unbelievable run.”

It was a seat-of-your-pants finish, with the Isles’ Mathew Barzal just missing an open net and Lightning defenders flopping to stop any shot in the final minute. But Tampa held on and was awarded the Prince of Wales Trophy, eliminating the Islanders in the semis for the second year in a row.

Unlike the Canadiens, who posed with the Campbell Bowl but didn’t touch it, Lightning players touched the Prince of Wales Trophy but didn’t lift it prior to their team photo. Stamkos carried the hardware into the dressing room.

Like last year, the Lightning will be facing a team led by an interim coach. Last time it was Rick Bowness running the Dallas Stars, though he was named permanent coach after the playoffs.

This year, Dominique Ducharme is officially interim coach of the Canadiens, having replaced Claude Julien mid-season. But even Ducharme may not be behind the bench when the series begins, with Luke Richardson filling in and Ducharme in self-isolation after a positive COVID-19 test.

Unlike last year, the Cup final will be played in front of fans.

“I don’t know how many fans are going to be there, but they’ve got an obviously very passionate fan base there and it’s going to be a tough, grinding series,” said Stamkos. “I think if anything, we can carry over from this series the style of play in terms of the defensive aspect that we’re going to be going up against — an amazing goaltender who’s on his game right now. So it’s going to be a huge challenge for us.”

The final will be unique with two teams in the Eastern time zone. If not for the pandemic which required border-friendly divisions, the Canadiens and Lightning would have been in the same division, the Atlantic. The Lightning hold a 3-1 edge head-to-head in the playoffs, most recently a six-gamer in the 2015 Eastern Conference second round.

“I grew up there (in Quebec), so I’m very excited to play them in the Stanley Cup final,” said Gourde, who grew up south of Quebec City. “It’s going to be so exciting. I can’t wait to get this thing started.”

One notable addition, if that’s the right word, is captain Steve Stamkos. He is healthy this year. He missed most of the playoffs last year, save for a remarkable five minutes of play in Game 3 of the final.

A true addition is defenceman David Savard, acquired at the trade deadline from the Columbus Blue Jackets for a 2021 first-round draft pick and a 2022 third-round draft pick.

The Islanders roster was also remarkably stable season-over-season. The biggest move was at the deadline, adding Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac at the deadline in a deal with the New Jersey Devils.

The rest of the game was just as guarded: neither team giving much, neither team able to take much. But Tampa managed to take a 1-0 lead into the third period after Gourde scored short-handed at 1:49 of the second period.

The focus was largely on shot blocks and big hits as players on both teams tried to live up to the moments Game 7s can provide.

“You try to treat it like any other game, but it’s not,” Tampa winger Alex Killorn said before the game.

Cooper insisted the team had gotten over its overtime loss in Game 6.

“You know you’re down. But in the morning everybody got up, like, there was a feel of ‘OK, next game’ and our team’s been really good about turning the page,” said Cooper. “I’ve loved our mindset.”

The Islanders were underdogs in name only, largely because they fly under the radar so often. But they have made playoff runs in each of Barry Trotz’s three seasons as head coach. They made it to the second round in 2018-19 — their first without John Tavares — and reached the conference final last year, only to lose to the Lightning.

Full marks to the Isles for getting this far, having done so without captain Anders Lee since March 17 with a right knee injury that required surgery.

“I’ve talked about the journey probably more than the outcome,” said Trotz. “The journey is very important for players. It’s the journey of the regular season, the journey of the playoffs. It’s the journey within the game that you have to stay in the moment, all those things.

“But to me, it’s life. You’re going to have challenges in life (like) Game 7s and how you deal with it, how you deal with the pressures, how you deal with what’s going on in that moment, that allows you to have success. If you can stay in the moment.”