Tampa Bay took another step towards defending the Stanley Cup won a year earlier.
In the first match of the final series, John Cooper's charges defeated Montreal on the road - 5: 1.
In the second, they managed to become stronger at home - 3: 1.
An excellent help for the hosts was the increase in the capacity of the Amali-Arena stadium up to 100%.
On Thursday, 18,600 spectators were able to visit the game, who, without ceasing, drove the Lightning forward.
Despite this, the team played far from the best match.
Guests, angry with a major defeat, from the first minutes pushed the opponent to the gate.
But at the last frontier that evening, Andrei Vasilevsky turned out to be practically impenetrable, who caught an amazing courage and helped his partners time after time.
As a result, the Canadiens scored 20 more shots than their opponents (43:23), but managed to score only once.
Tampa are only the third team in NHL playoff final history to win in such a situation.
A kind of record was broken in 2016 by San Jose, who hit 24 shots less than Pittsburgh, but turned out to be stronger.
So in this confrontation, "Montreal" carried out attack after attack.
Already in the third minute, Nick Suzuki jumped out for a rendezvous with Vasilevsky, but the Russian managed to knock out the puck with a stick.
Shortly before the break, Tyler Toffoli tried his luck in a similar situation - Andrei was again at his best.
In turn, “Tampa” relied on counterattacks, but failed to convert six minutes of the majority at once.
Another domestic hockey player of the team, Nikita Kucherov, did not show himself in the best way.
He threatened the opponent's goal several times, but he was not lucky.
In general, the striker did not have the best meeting and did not score points for performance.
But in the second 20-minute "Lightning" scored a puck that did not follow from the logic of the game.
And in this situation, the counterpart of Vasilevsky Carey Price did not show himself in the best way.
He was unable to react to the faint click of Anthony Cirelli from a fairly long distance.
Probably, the goalkeeper simply did not see the projectile flying due to the high traffic.
Only after that did Montreal finally manage to realize the advantage and excel.
Moreover, the team's puck also turned out to be extremely curious.
Suzuki inflicted far from the most dangerous shot, but Ryan McDonagh was unable to stop the puck, like Corey Perry.
As a result, she flew into the net between the shields of the disoriented Vasilevsky, untouched by anyone.
Perhaps the team from Canada would have been able to put the squeeze on the hosts, if not for the goal 1.1 seconds before the break.
When the hockey players were already preparing to go to the locker room, Barkley Goodrow rushed to the wrong goal from the blue line and made a pass to the far post.
Blake Coleman managed to close the cross of his partner in the fall.
Thus, the striker repeated the record of Mike Bossia 37 years ago.
Until today, he was the last hockey player in the Stanley Cup final to score less than two seconds before halftime.
Moreover, in 1982 he excelled in overtime.
“I was acting on reflexes.
Hardly anyone really trains fall throws.
But at that time, this was the only solution.
Although I don’t know at all why I succeed in such goals ”, - the official website of the NHL quotes Coleman as saying.
Having unexpectedly regained the advantage in the score, “Tampa” spent the final period with maximum concentration.
She was already acting almost on an equal footing with her opponent.
And, of course, Vasilevsky continued to help out partners, whose name the commentators constantly pronounced.
And in the end, the guests again made a gross effective mistake.
In a harmless situation, Joel Edmundson presented the puck to Ondřej Palat outside the goal, and the Czech did not miss his chance - 3: 1.
So this confrontation was put to an end.
Tampa Bay took a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup final for the first time in history.
11 teams over the past 20 years took the trophy in this situation.
The Lightning also won their fifth straight home win in the playoffs and set a new club record.
But, of course, Vasilevsky became the main character and the first star of the meeting, reflecting 42 shots.
That evening Andrey managed to establish a number of interesting statistical achievements.
First, he has strengthened his leadership in the current Stanley Cup in terms of the number of wins among goalkeepers - 14. Price has 12.
Secondly, the Russian played the sixth game of his career in the NHL playoffs with 40 or more saves.
This is the best record in Tampa history.
Finally, over the past two league seasons, he has four such matches, and he has no equal in this segment.
Semyon Varlamov and Darcy Kemper have three similar meetings.
It is not surprising that after the final siren Vasilevsky was praised by everyone.
In particular, the head coach of the hosts, John Cooper, bluntly stated that his players did not look the best, but the individual skill of the goalkeeper and a couple of other hockey players allowed them to gain the upper hand.
“We won thanks to the outstanding individual performances of Vasya, Coleman and a couple of other guys, but let's not kid ourselves: there was nothing outstanding in our game today.
We have long been accustomed to seeing such matches performed by Vasya, but he certainly gave us the chance to snatch this victory, ”the specialist noted.
The coach was supported by defender Ryan McDonagh, who thanked the goalkeeper for his good play and dedication on the last line.
“Every day he is the backbone of the team.
I don’t have enough words to express my gratitude.
Of course, we would like to make life easier for Andrey, but he is a real warrior and fighter.
The main merit in today's victory belongs to him, ”the hockey player emphasized.
Even rivals paid tribute to Vasilevsky.
So, one of the leaders of "Montreal" Perry admitted that it would be extremely difficult to solve the "problem" of Vasilevsky, who conceded only on the puck in the first two matches of the final series.
“The answer is obvious: you need to continue to load him with throws.
But if he sees the puck, he will reflect it.
Therefore, you need to close the review.
This is a world class goalkeeper.
He is big, he can easily take any challenge.
And he sees the puck, so he stops it.
Someone has to climb on a patch to fight for scoring chances.
And then luck may be on our side, ”the striker suggested.