Tampa Bay Lightning, however, is close to accomplishing something even more difficult: Winning three Stanley Cups in a row. The two-time champions beat the Rangers, 2-1, to win the Eastern Conference finals on Saturday and will return to the Stanley Cup finals, where they will face the Colorado Avalanche from Wednesday in Denver. No team has reached three consecutive Stanley Cup finals by the Edmonton Oilers led by Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier in the mid-1980s, and the Islanders were the last team to win three consecutive Cups when they won four consecutive titles before from 40 years from 1980 to 1984. Lightning may not attract the national attention of some of the clubs in the major markets of the league or its Canadian teams. They play in Tampa, a Florida tourist destination, where a star named Tom Brady, the Buccaneers’ general, makes the most of the sports headlines. But quietly and empathetically, Lightning built a dynasty under coach Jon Cooper and their leader, Steven Stamkos, who was at the heart of the team’s success. Now 32, the Toronto suburban center has played his entire 14-year career in Tampa and helped create another eternal candidate. With 522 career goals, including playoffs, only two guys named Ovechkin and Crosby follow among the active players. He was also the stickler who helped keep his teammates together, including his teammates Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat. The Tampa Bay roster includes players with a total of 204 playoff games, more than any other team. Stamkos added to his stellar career when he scored two Lightning goals, including the winner of the match late in the third period on Saturday, to finish the Rangers. “It’s great to score two goals in a huge game like this, but if I didn’t score and we won, I would be just as happy,” he said after the game. Stamkos has scored nine goals so far in the NHL playoffs, but the Thunderbolts won the series convincingly dominating the Rangers in almost every aspect of the game. Tampa Bay overcame a two-game deficit and won the last four games of the series, beating the Rangers 12-5. Lightning made a few mistakes, which kept the Rangers’ top-ranking power play away from the ice. The Young Rangers, in the playoffs for the first time after five seasons, failed to score in the last four games of the series. On Saturday, the score and shots on goal were deceptively close and the statistics would have been more confusing had it not been for the brilliant play of Rangers goalkeeper Igor Sesterkin. The Lightning had far more quality goal opportunities and the Rangers, who had won all five knockout games during the play-offs, looked deflated after a heartbreaking defeat in Game 5 of New York on Thursday. While Sesterkin desperately tried to keep the Rangers in the game, his counterpart, Tampa Bay goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevsky, struggled. He stopped 20 shots and won the eighth consecutive clearing match, six of which were shutouts. Tampa Bay has now won 11 consecutive playoff series, something that Cooper attributed to the constant movement of his players. “No one would blame them,” he said if the players gave up. “Hello, you won one, you won two and you go back and go for a third.” The Lightning beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in the first round and swept the Florida Panthers after that. The Rangers then flanked them in the first two games of the series in New York. But the Lightning showed why and how they continue to win championships. They found their footing when the series moved to Tampa, improving with each game and being the much stronger team on Saturday. They skated fast, made clean passes and picked up wrong passes from the Rangers. They dominated in the first period, attempting 25 shots while the Rangers managed 12. Sesterkin kept Tampa away, clearing even his own mess. After an attempt to clear the elf was intercepted by Lightning’s Riley Nash, a tip-in by Patrick Maroon stopped. He used his right pillow to stop a tip-in attempt by Pierre-oudouard Bellemare and denied Anthony Cirelli an escape. In the second period, Sesterkin robbed Kucherov, Tampa Bay’s top scorer, when he tried to pass the elf behind him. But after all of Sesterkin’s frantic stops, Tampa Bay scored after Stamkos passed in front of an injured Ryan Strom and shot the wrist from the top of the circle. The Rangers finally had a chance to play power in the third period when Corey Perry hit Philip Chitil in the face with a stick. Tampa blocked all the Rangers’ shots. The Rangers eventually scored in another power play when Stamkos was called in to hold and Frank Vatrano fired a shot past Vasilevski. Whatever momentum the Rangers gained, it disappeared 21 seconds later. Stamkos, coming out of the penalty spot, ran towards the net, took a pass from Kucherov and shot the elf. Sesterkin grabbed it with his glove, but the elf escaped and Stamko’s foot hit it in the net. After checking, the target stood. Now Tampa Bay will face the Avalanche, who have had plenty of time to think about their next opponent. They finished the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Finals almost a week ago. It was the best team in the West in the regular season with 119 points and so far is 12-2 in the playoffs, including scans of the Nashville Predators and Oilers. Colorado has conceded just 40 goals out of Tampa’s 41, but Avalanche scores much more often, leading all teams with 65 goals to Lightning’s 52. They are led by Nathan MacKinnon, the fast, creative center and defender Cale Makar, whom Wayne Gretzky recently called the best two-way player after Bobby Orr. Colorado has won its two games against Tampa Bay this season, with one goal each time. But he may be without Nazem Kadri and Andrew Cogliano, both of whom have injured fingers. It is also unclear whether goalkeeper Darcy Kuemper will start Game 1. The Rangers will have all summer to heal their injuries and think about how they took a two-game lead over defending champion Stanley Cup. Rangers coach Gerard Galland said an exhausting schedule – 20 playoff games in 40 days – had exhausted his team. The sting of a Stanley Cup race that ends very soon will endure. “I’m empty,” said Rangers center Mika Zimbanejad, who then stopped for a long time. “I do not want it to end.” Cooper, Lightning’s coach, can not believe he is not for his team. “When you grow up in Canada, you always dream of having your name on the Stanley Cup,” he said. “And getting there for the first time was a dream come true. Getting there for the second time next year was like a dream, as if there was no way we could go back. And it is inconceivable for me to go for the third time “.
