(East Los Angeles, CA.) October 3, 2020 [From The Editor’s Desk]: To All of Fans and Followers, especially those of you who are true to your teams and to the NHL. The 2020 COVID-19 Re-Start Season has come to an end with the Final Game of the Stanley Cup Tournament. We’ll leave you here and let you take a great read and a great look at our multi-faceted posting. First, here’s Joe Perry’s final story for this season. We look forward to seeing more of his work as we move onward with building and adding more content for your enjoyment.

2020 STANLEY CUP FINALS: 

Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Dallas Stars – Game 6

Tampa Bay Lightning Win Cup For First Time Since 2004.

I know it’s probably hard to believe with no fans, but you could feel the excitement from ice-level when the puck dropped for Game 6.

(1^st Period): Exceptionally low-shooting for the first period. Twelve minutes had gone by and the Lightning had only shot three times while the Stars had shot only once. Then, Tampa Bay winger Nikita Kucherov carried the puck in on a powerplay. He headed toward the left-side boards, drawing in Dallas Stars’ Andrew Cogliano to open up space in the middle. It worked like a charm. Tampa Bay center Brayden Point filled the gap and Kucherov slid it to him. Point had an easy look on net. When he threw it toward Stars’ goaltender Anton Khudobin, the puck was saved but it bounced right back to Point who didn’t miss the second time—(1-0), Lightning. Khudobin wasn’t able to corral the puck on the first shot and the big rebound for Point left him with plenty of time and space. The end of the first period saw the Stars getting hungry to tie, but all of their blazing shots were stopped and cleared.

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Photo Gallery Credit: NHL Twitter Page – Tampa Bay Lightning – Dallas Stars

(2^nd Period): Time ticked away into the period, just like it did in the first. There were more shots this time around but none for a score, until a terrible mistake by the Stars. A few Lightning players went for the bench as they cleared the puck into the Dallas zone. Lightning winger Patrick Maroon appeared as though he was going to change over as well, but he remained on the ice. When the Stars received the puck, they tried to swing it back up for a quick counter attack, but the   sneaky Maroon leapt in and stole the puck, which started a “3-on-2” rush. Maroon charged down the middle and took a defenseman with him. He dished the puck out left for teammate Cedric Paquette who immediately saw an opening cross-ice and passed perfectly to offenseman Blake Coleman. A slap-shot driven home made it (2-0) for the Bolts. The remainder of the period saw each team with powerplays they couldn’t cash in on.

(3^rd Period): A quick look at the game stats up to this point showed, (22) shots for Tampa Bay, to just (8) for Dallas. “Seems lopsided,” said Doc Emrick, the now famous voice of the NHL telecasts for NBC, as the 3^rd period began and the Lightning won yet another face-off.

In beginning of the period, the Lightning had even more chances to extend their lead, but no dice. It was in the final (10) minutes that we saw try-after-try from the Dallas Stars to produce a goal, but Tampa Bay’s goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy was much too solid. He stopped absolutely everything.

In the dying seconds of the game, with an empty Dallas net, Lightning winger Barclay Goodrow brought it down on a “1-on-1” against John Klingberg. Klingberg fought tooth-and-nail to stop Goodrow from adding any more to the score. He did so to preserve the respect of his team, but really, it didn’t matter. When the final horn sounded, the Tampa Bay Lightning threw their helmets into the air and their sticks onto the ice, proudly becoming the 2020 Stanley Cup Champions.

Final Score: Lightning 2   Stars  0

Fun Fact: The last time the Tampa Bay Lightning hoisted the Stanley Cup was in 2004.

About Our Correspondent: Joe Perry is our new Sports Correspondent and Cinema-TV, and Entertainment Columnist for East L.A. Sports Scene. He was born in New Jersey and raised by two public school teachers who loved taking him on World tours. He is a recent June, MFA graduate from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts Program in Film & TV Production. Duly noted here, while growing-up, Joe was a huge fan of the New Jersey Devils. He has been covering the re-start of the National Hockey League, (NHL) and the Stanley Cup Finals.