2021 Stanley Cup Finals

We started this long journey back in January. A 56 game regular season and three rounds of the playoffs have now lead to this. We started the year with 31 teams. Now we're down to our final two. Its a matchup of the defending champs going against a team that hasn't won a title since 1993. Its the Tampa Bay Lightning taking on the Montreal Canadiens. 

Tampa got here by beating the Panthers in six games, Hurricanes in five and the Islanders in seven games. This is the 2nd straight finals appearance and 4th overall. They are the defending champions and have won another cup in 2004. Meanwhile for the Habs, they beat the Maple Leafs in seven games, swept the Jets and beat the Golden Knights in six games. This also marks the 35th appearance in the finals for the Canadiens, who have won 27 titles but haven't made an appearance in the finals since 1993.

Here are the dates and times for every game in this finals series:
June 28 Montreal Canadiens 8:00 p.m. Tampa Bay Lightning Amalie Arena
June 30 Montreal Canadiens 8:00 p.m. Tampa Bay Lightning Amalie Arena
July 2 Tampa Bay Lightning 8:00 p.m. Montreal Canadiens Bell Centre
July 5 Tampa Bay Lightning 8:00 p.m. Montreal Canadiens Bell Centre
July 7 Montreal Canadiens 8:00 p.m. Tampa Bay Lightning Amalie Arena
July 9 Tampa Bay Lightning 8:00 p.m. Montreal Canadiens Bell Centre
July 11 Montreal Canadiens 7:00 p.m. Tampa Bay Lightning Amalie Arena

This is going to be a very interesting series, as Montreal has been coming in hotter than a firecracker. Tyler Toffoli is leading this team in scoring with 13 points. The offense is balanced and can come up with the timely goal, but they won't blow anybody out of the water. What has been keeping the Canadiens around has been the outstanding play of Carey Price. He has been playing out of his mind. Montreal has been getting the best out of their goaltenders and it has been and is the key reason they are playing in their first finals in 18 years.

But the Habs are going up against the defending champions the Lightning, who despite being a little on the banged up side, are back for the second year in a row in the finals. Nikita Kucherov, who still leads the NHL in playoff scoring despite missing the regular season due to injury,. is getting sore after getting knocked around a little in the last round against the Islanders. But its not just him. Brayden Point, Alex Killorn and Steven Stamkos have been scoring. They getting contributions from everybody. The goaltending in Andrei Vasilevskiy has been good. Not quite as great as Price but still been very good never the less.

With all that being said, Montreal is going to make it an interesting series. They are going to steal a couple of games, but the better team is going to come out on top. Tampa is just too balanced and too good of a hockey team to be toppled over. Price could steal a game but the Champs will be too much to handle and they will win back to back cups.

Pick: Lightning in six!