The Lightning have taken the top spot in the NHL – back-2-back champs. Lord Stanley’s cup is going nowhere. Truly unbelievable. I almost incited a riot last night on social media when I asked what I should watch – Big Brother or game 5…well ya know what, I watched both! Power of technology.
The Lightning are back to back champs, which is impressive all by itself, but what makes it even more impressive, is that they’ve done this in a 9 month span.
For all the talk about how tired these NBA players were after a bubble season, that essentially morphed into a following season with very little break…the NHL did that too…and while they shortened their regular season more than the NBA, their sport is also 3x as physical…so hats off to those guys.
But this is about the lightning…what I perceive to be THE BEST sports franchise in big-time American pro sports today…they are the #1 franchise in this country. The champion of champions.
With the Game 5 win, the Lightning improved to 15-0 immediately following a loss over the past two postseasons, the longest streak in NHL history. This win marks the 15th series win for the Lightning since 2015. In that span, no other team has won more than nine series.
So, the lightning are basically the Patriots with skates on.
Think about it…who else rivals what the Lightning have been able to do over the last several seasons.
If you just look @ the last 4 seasons, the lightning have won the Stanley cup twice, conference finals exit once, and a shocking first round sweep- after being the most dominant regular season team in the NHL in 2018. That’s the last 4 years. The two years prior? Conference finals appearance + Stanley cup appearance. NO ONE ELSE IS DOING THIS!
No NBA team has been able to maintain that level of consistency since the Warriors did it, but that fell apart. The Patriots were the top of the heap, but they’re in setback mode…the Yankees are a mess. The Dodgers are finally starting to live up to their potential…the Rays would qualify in the conversation, but they still haven’t actually won the big one. I think the Chiefs right now are the closest rival in pro sports to the Lightning.
And don’t give me the Bucs…the Bucs are great right now, but that’s lipstick on a pig, their success is largely tied to the presence of Tom Brady, we all know that.
The Lightning aren’t just great now – and don’t get me wrong – they’re peaking…but they’ve been a model franchise dating back to their 2004 championship.
All the credit in the world to this team, color me impressed.
Photo: Getty Images