Summer of Stanley: Aug. 20

The 2020 NHL postseason is whittling down from 24 teams to 16 and, by the end of weekend, eight teams still chasing the Stanley Cup. Summer of Stanley, presented by Alaska Airlines, wheels into our third week of fly-in news from NHL hub cities Toronto and Edmonton.

We are cleared for takeoff.

Making the 'Point' in Toronto
When the overall top seed Tampa Bay Lightning entered the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, they were coming off a regular season in which they notched 128 standings points, winning the NHL's Presidents' Trophy for best record. Their first-round opponent was the Columbus Blue Jackets, who were the second wild-card team finishing the year with 98 points or 30 standings points-the equivalent of 15 wins-lower than Tampa Bay. So what happened? Columbus swept the Lightning in four games, sending TBL and the NHL's leading scorer and stingiest goalie, among other teammates, home for the summer.

Make no mistake, it was a long summer mentally before Tampa Bay's players could lace up the skates for training camp eyeing a fresh chance to vie for the Cup. Then with a unexpected and unprecedented halt to the regular season, the wait continued for TBL players who wanted to erase the disappointment of 2019 with strong run in 2020. April turned into July before the Lightning could get back to the ice (which still generated angst when some players and staff tested positive for COVID-19).

Fast forward to Wednesday in the Eastern Conference hub city Toronto: Tampa Bay facing those same upstart, sting-still-hurts Columbus Blue Jackets in this August's first-round series. TBL and CBJ played tight games earlier in the month but the Lightning held a 3-1 series lead. TBL controlled play in the first period, scoring twice to take a 2-1 lead. But CBJ roared back with three straight goals to go up 4-2 with eight minutes left in the third period. You know some faction of Tampa Bay fans were thinking: "Uh-oh, here we go again."

Then, ahem, Lightning struck. Veteran defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk scored at 12:01 with assists from Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov. Center Anthony Cirelli tied it with a late goal with 98 seconds on the game clock; Point and Kucherov assisted on the equalizer as well. It was the first goal of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs for Shattenkirk and Cirelli-good timing!

Five minutes-plus into overtime, Point scored his fifth goal of the postseason to, finally for the TBL franchise and its fans, avenge last year's upset sweep by Columbus. Kucherov (the 2018-19 NHL scoring leader) assisted on Point's overtime winner. Point bookended overtime-winning goals by scoring the OT winner in Game 1 during an epic and historic five-overtime Game 1.

Scoring Points in Edmonton
As the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs finish up, it's an opportune time to scope the scoring leaders in the NHL postseason to date. The goals and assists lists most definitely lean to the Western Conference and hub city Edmonton. Colorado second-line center Nazem Kadri has six goals while Vancouver captain and forward Bo Horvat has also notched six. Youth is served with those two, along with Colorado first-line center Nathan MacKinnon picking up nine assists to date and rookie-of-the-year candidate Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes assisting on eight goals. Colorado closed out Arizona in five games with back-to-back 7-1 routs. Vancouver is looking to send home defending Cup champion St. Louis with a win Friday.

Vancouver is living out Canucks GM Jim Benning's master plan to shore up his young core of forwards (Horvat, Elias Petterson, Brock Boeser) with veterans such as J.T. Miller, who has scored five goals in the postseason so far. The veteran presence can be distilled to one example. After Vancouver raced out to a 2-0 series lead with an emphasis on speed, the Blues came back to win two consecutive games by introducing more physicality on the ice, a formula that took them to the 2019 title.

After Game 4, media members asked Miller about the energized play of St. Louis center Ryan O'Reilly, who was last year's playoffs MVP and scored two goals in a 3-1 to tie the series. Miller's perspective was no doubt repeated to his young teammates as the team readied for Game 5 and maybe even after the first period Wednesday: "You guys are asking a lot of questions about O'Reilly, but he's spending no time in his own end. We can challenge ourselves to be better and win more pucks at their end of the rink so they're wasting their shifts defending instead of the other way around." Something clicked: While St. Louis built a 3-1 lead, including a final 30-seconds first-period goal, Miller scored the first of three straight VAN goals in the latter half of the second period to go up 4-3. The third period was scoreless on both ends, pushing O'Reilly and the Blues to the brink with Friday's Game 6.

Summer Tour with Stanley Cup: 2011
Ten years ago this week, Boston Bruins goalie was enjoying his traditional day with Stanley Cup in Davison, MI, which he started in the local high school parking lot to get handed the Cup by cup-keepers Phil Pritchard and Howie Borrow. Next was a police escort to a local church before heading out to a family-and-friends celebration. The day was low-key but personal, which pleased Thomas. As for residents of Davison, they were thrilled to cheer on Thomas and had the opportunity to take a long look at not one, not two but three trophies: the esteemed Stanley, of course, plus the Vezina Trophy he won as the league's best goalie for the 2010-11 season and the Conn Smythe trophy he was awarded as most valuable player in the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs.