Bellemare had all questions about Lightning answered during run to Final

TAMPA -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare saw something fascinating about the Tampa Bay Lightning. Something that he wanted to uncover, wanted to find out for himself.

So while the veteran forward could have returned to the Colorado Avalanche, the team he had played for the previous two seasons, he opted for the new, for the defending Stanley Cup champions and the possibilities they provided.
He signed a two-year, $2 million contract ($1 million average annual value) on July 28 and has no regrets.
"I was intrigued about what is in this organization, what is in this locker room," Bellemare said Monday. "Why are they so successful? Why is it that we are again in the Stanley Cup Final? And I've got all my answers. So I think I made the right choice."
He made the right choice because the Lightning are back in the Cup Final for the third straight season. They start their quest for a third straight Stanley Cup championship against the Avalanche in Game 1 of the Final at Ball Arena on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ABC, CBC, SN, TVAS).
It wasn't long after Bellemare settled into the Lightning locker room that he found the answers he was seeking.
"From, I think, the opening meeting of training camp], where there was a lot of talk about sacrificing your sake for the benefit of the team," he said. "Not saying that the other teams that I've played on before didn't do that, but it was big talk on that. That it was the reason why this team has gone far because some of the top players didn't care about their points or anything. They just were OK to be patient and play the system and not try to manufacture stuff.
"And now, looking at the last series [against the New York Rangers], this is what changed. The way our top players played, they were OK dumping the puck and working the body and being patient and get the goals when it comes. We don't know when it comes, but it will come. This is what I saw, what I heard, right from the beginning of camp."
***[RELATED: [2022 Stanley Cup Final schedule | Stanley Cup Final coverage]*
It validated his choice. It validated moving his family from Colorado to Florida and playing for a new team.
Bellemare has experience with elite teams. He has played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in six of his eight NHL seasons, once with the Philadelphia Flyers, twice with the Vegas Golden Knights -- including a trip to the 2018 Stanley Cup Final, where they lost to the Washington Capitals -- twice with the Avalanche and now with the Lightning.
He knows what it takes.
And still, it seems, there's a bitter taste in his mouth from his last trip to the Final.
"I didn't win the Cup," said Bellemare, who had 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists) in 80 games this season, and has three points (one goal, two assists) in 17 playoff games. "I don't know if that was based on how I play or maybe, at times, I didn't try to motivate the team. … I don't know if it was regret. When you don't achieve something that you worked so hard for and you never thought in your entire life that you could even get a chance to play for it, then you get in there, especially with the entire Vegas first year and all of that, and then you don't win it, then you have to go through a phase where you're, like [angry], mentally, and at that point, the emotion between regret and being mad and all of it is kind of a big ball of negativity. So you have to go and swallow it and use it as anger to be able to move on and be better."
It took him at least two weeks to get over it.
But now here he is in the Final again. And with inside knowledge about the team he and the Lightning are playing.
While the coaching staff hasn't exactly dipped into Bellemare's knowledge of the Avalanche, when passing in the hallway they'll check in with him, throw a question or two at him.
"Obviously I played there for two years, so some questions came up," he said. "Our coaching staff, they're better than what I am at what they do. I think the questions are more like to see if they see it the right way, if they see it the same way that [I did] when I was there. But we're not talking about 100 questions."
He knows how good the Avalanche can be. He watched the players develop the past two seasons, each of which ended with a loss in the second round of the playoffs. He watched their frustrations. He also saw how talented they were.
"You don't end up in the Stanley Cup Final without being one of the two best teams in the League," Bellemare said. "It's a quick team. They're defensively solid. It's going to be a tight matchup for both teams."
It's something all the Lightning players recognize.
"Everyone knows what kind of skill they've got on that team," forward Brandon Hagel said. "Defense, they've got a good power play, and I think that's kind of been the thing throughout this playoffs. Every team we've played has had an elite, elite power play, in Toronto and Florida and the Rangers and now going over to these guys, so that'll be obviously a huge thing that you need to focus on when the time comes, just to kill those all, just like we have been the whole playoffs.
"These guys are really good. A lot of star power over there."
Bellemare knows what the Avalanche have in their locker room, just as he knows now what the Lightning have in their room.
Just as he knows what it feels like to take the ice in the Stanley Cup Final, and what falling short there feels like.
"Play every shift like it's your last one," Bellemare said. "Because what I experienced in that one was not fun. It felt like at times you did the right thing but you didn't get rewarded. And then when you didn't do the right thing you get [burned], right away.
"Understand that every shift could be the deciding factor and enjoy every single moment. Because it took me a long time to be able to get the opportunity to go back into the Stanley Cup Final. And this is the holy grail for all of us."