Stanley Cup Final Game 6 Blog: Stars vs. Lightning

Game 6 of the 2020 Stanley Cup Final and the 2019-20 NHL season is in the books, with the Tampa Bay Lightning winning the Stanley Cup with a
2-0 victory against the Dallas Stars in Game 6
.
NHL.com
staff writer Tim Campbell was in Rogers Place in Edmonton for all the sights, sounds, insight and action from Game 6.

RELATED: [Complete Stanley Cup Final coverage]

10:50 p.m. ET

There's jubilation at the Tampa Bay bench and now pouring onto the ice.
The Lightning have won the Stanley Cup
after more than nine weeks in the NHL bubble, defeating the Dallas Stars in six games in the Stanley Cup Final.
With one final shot block from Barclay Goodrow, the puck went down the ice and the Lightning players erupted, jumping off the bench and starting the celebration with about three seconds to play.
Dallas just couldn't crack Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy tonight, even though they stepped on the gas hard in the third period.
Tampa Bay won four of the last five games of the series after dropping Game 1 to the Stars. Tampa Bay's only other loss in the series was the double-overtime Game 5.
A very long NHL season has come to an end with a very deserving champion.

10:39 p.m. ET

Dallas now into full on chance-taking mode.
The Lightning are being forced to defend more than at any time of the game, backed up under pressure and will be in full prevent mode from here to the finish.
With 4:33 to go, the Stars are going to get a power play, with Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh going off for tripping. It probably won't be long before Stars coach Rick Bowness will call goalie Anton Khudobin to the bench and use an extra skater for more attack.

10:30 p.m. ET

Big cheer and a bunch of stick rattling on the bench for Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who fought of a point shot with a tough save through traffic.
The Stars finally reached 10 shots on goal for the game at the 8:00 mark of the period and now you can see Dallas' defense really getting active on every sequence in the Tampa Bay zone, taking a few chances and trying to hound and contest the puck even more.
The Lightning are trying to get it into lockdown mode, only 8:02 from winning the Stanley Cup.

10:16 p.m. ET

Still waiting for the Stars to start exerting more pressure, but the Lightning continue to make it very difficult for them.
Tampa Bay has this period off to a good start and I have seen coach Jon Cooper twice already speak up to his team behind the bench, holding his hands out palms down, a clear sign he's asking them to remain calm, keep the quick changes going and play their own game.
Fifteen more minutes the Stanley Cup can be theirs.

9:50 p.m. ET

There is one way to look at Game 6, now through two periods with the Lightning ahead of the Stars 2-0.
Dallas must have three goals to extend its season, and it has but eight shots so far in the game.
The Stars don't need all three in the third period, but they need at least two and that's if they don't allow any more Tampa Bay goals.
The Lightning are in the enviable position of not needing any more goals to win the Cup. Twenty minutes to go and if they can lock it down, or give up no more than one goal, they're the champions.

9:35 p.m. ET

The Stars had some control in the Tampa Bay end but couldn't isolate a good shot, then wound up with a goaltender interference penalty to Corey Perry to cut the power play short.
The Lightning have been making it tough on the Stars most of the game, executing breakouts pretty well and not allowing Dallas to pile up some pressure time.
Quite a contrast in benches during this latest TV time out. The Tampa Bay bench is pretty quiet, with a few player conversations and coach Jon Cooper is just letting the bench run itself during the break.
On the Dallas side, coach Rick Bowness went up and down behind his players with obvious hand gestures and words of encouragement during the break. With only seven shots on goal so far, Bowness has got to be looking for a little bit more attack now.

9:23 p.m. ET

The lead is extended to 2-0 when Tampa Bay's Blake Coleman scores with a one-timer off a sweet cross-ice pass. The goal comes at 7:01 of the period. That's Coleman who grew up in Texas a Stars fan.
Not a lot was happening up to that point. It's had been kind of up and down the ice, each team trying to find a soft spot in its opponent for an attack, but not much getting through.
Starman by David Bowie was playing earlier, thought that might put some jump into the Dallas strides. But so far, just six shots on goal and they need a spark here, and they may get one going on a power play after Ryan McDonagh was whistled for interference.

8:53 p.m. ET

More observations on intensity in the Stanley Cup Final.
There was an icing call the Stars didn't agree with late in the period and some jawing began from the Dallas bench. It was Mattias Janmark. Referee Kelly Sutherland skated over and gave him what looked like an explanation, but the conversation continued, not animated, but it continued until Dallas coach Rick Bowness came walking down the bench and tapped Janmark, signalling to me that he wanted the discussion to end.
It just shows how dialed in everyone seems to be.
The period ended with the shots 11-4 for Tampa Bay. Half of Dallas's shots were during a late power play that carries over 36 seconds to the second period. I'm guessing the Stars will want to get more on their toes for the second.

8:43 p.m. ET

Brayden Point followed up his own shot and got the rebound, scoring a power-play goal at 12:23 and Tampa Bay strikes early in this potential Cup-clinching game. It's Point's 14th goal of the playoffs, a pretty major performance.
And it got a major "Yeah!" from the Lightning bench.
It's a big start now for the Lightning, with the lead an 8-1 edge in shots.

8:35 p.m. ET

One of the reasons the Lightning lead in the series is that they've been pretty consistent. And that's going on again tonight in terms of the bench energy.
During that first power play of the game, at least half the players on the Tampa Bay bench were standing and there was as much encouragement ("Let's go") as coaching ("Open side," and "Coming") for their teammates trying to get the game's first goal.
Dallas survived the penalty, though, and probably had the best chance during it, when defenseman Miro Heiskanen was open as the trailer on a rush, but he shot wide.

8:30 p.m. ET

Tampa Bay defenseman Zach Bogosian flattened Dallas forward Alexander Radulov in the neutral zone and I've got to think that will get the blood boiling in a game that's been kind of tactical, feel-it-out so far.
I've heard a fair bit of calling for penalties from each bench and now there is a penalty, Andrew Cogliano is going off for tripping. So far, there has been lots of noise from the benches, including one accusation of embellishment, but couldn't tell which side it came from.
You can't be surprised the two teams don't like each other much, into a sixth game.

7:58 p.m. ET

Here's your nightly last-man-off update.
Tyler Seguin of the Dallas Stars, who almost always insists he be the last player to leave the ice after warmups and will go to great lengths to make sure he is, declined the designation before Game 5 and rushed off to make Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev the last man off.
Tonight, Sergachev was more aware of who was left for Dallas and scurried off when he saw Seguin and Corey Perry leave their pucks and start to head for the exit. That left Seguin as the last player, though he didn't seem too concerned about the gamesmanship this time, as he, too, skated off quickly.
It's been Seguin vs. Sergachev the entire Final, and Seguin was batting 4-for-4 before Game 5. We're guessing he changed it up to change the Stars' luck after they lost Game 4 in overtime. That may have worked, since Dallas rallied for a 3-2 double-overtime win in Game 5.
Puck drop for Game 6 is coming up.

7:44 p.m. ET

Warmups have begun at Rogers Place and Dallas Stars defenseman Andrej Sekera is on the ice with his team. Sekera missed the second period of Game 5 but returned for the third period and the overtimes.

7 p.m. ET

The clock is ticking down to warmups for
Game 6
and the Stanley Cup will be in the house again tonight.
There are no expected changes or surprises in the warmups for the Lightning, who can win the Cup with one more win in this series.
We'll keep an eye on the Stars when they hit the ice to see if defenseman Andrej Sekera is healthy enough to play. Sekera missed the second period of Game 5 but did come back to play in the third period and the two overtime periods.
Energy level will be worth keeping an eye on tonight, even from the warmups. The teams played Games 4 and 5 on back-to-back days, Friday and Saturday, and each game went to overtime.