2020 Stanley Cup Finals Preview

Its been a long strange trip to get here, but the Stanley Cup Finals is here. We started this season back in October with 31 teams trying to fight for a championship. Then, just like the rest of the world, the league hit pause. When we did come back to start the playoffs, it was 24 teams looking at a shot at the holy grail of hockey. Now here we sit, down to just two. Two teams who have drank out of hockey's holy grail before and want it again. Both teams started the playoffs in round robin play, and now are set to square off for the Cup. So lets get right into it and break it all down

This years finals will see the Western Conference Champion Dallas Stars taking on the Eastern Conference Champion Tampa Bay Lighting. For Dallas, they got here by beating the Flames in six games in the opening round, followed by the Avalanche in seven games in round two, and finally the Golden Knights in five games in the conference finals. This will be the Dallas Stars' fifth appearance in the Finals. They won the Stanley Cup in 1999 before losing the Finals in 2000. They also made two appearances as the Minnesota North Stars in 1981 and 1991.

As for the Lightning, they got here by beating the Blue Jackets in the opening round in five games, then the Bruins in five games in round two, before finally dispatching the Islanders in the Conference Finals in six games. This will be the Tampa Bay Lightning's third appearance in the Finals. They won the Stanley Cup in 2004 before losing the Finals in 2015.

Dallas won both regular season meetings between the two teams this season.

Here's the dates and times of every game in this series:

September 19 Dallas Stars 7:30 p.m. Tampa Bay Lightning Rogers Place

September 21 Dallas Stars 8:00 p.m. Tampa Bay Lightning Rogers Place

September 23 Tampa Bay Lightning 8:00 p.m. Dallas Stars Rogers Place

September 25 Tampa Bay Lightning 8:00 p.m. Dallas Stars Rogers Place

September 26 Dallas Stars 8:00 p.m. Tampa Bay Lightning Rogers Place

September 28 Tampa Bay Lightning 8:00 p.m. Dallas Stars Rogers Place

September 30 Dallas Stars 8:00 p.m. Tampa Bay Lightning Rogers Place

Two teams squaring off in a balanced and even series. Both teams can score goals that evident. Tampa had the highest scoring team in the league during the regular season, and added another 59 during the playoffs. Only team to score more than them during the playoffs is the 62 by Dallas in two more games. Both teams have weapons on that side of the puck, but I got to give an ever so slight playoff edge to the Bolts, mostly because Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov have outplayed Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. The forwards for Dallas have been a little more adept and getting scoring from other lines, but Tampa has the edge when the big guns are really going.

On the defensive side of the puck, both teams looked pretty good. Dallas had the lowest goals against in the league during the regular season, while Tampa was 4th in fewest goals allowed. In the playoffs, the Dallas goals against numbers have gone up (compared to the regular season), while the Lightning has lowered its goals against numbers during this playoff run. Hey I'm not taking anything away from what Anton Kudobin has done, he's been very good in the Dallas nets since taking over full tilt as the starter. Andrei Vasalevski has played every minute for Tampa and, while being a workhorse, has been very very good.

This is, by no stretch of the imagination, a knock against the Stars, who have had a fantastic season and playoff run. But the Bolts are a slightly better built team. They can play a fast game and improved in the physicality department from a year ago. They were better built playoff team this year then they were a season ago. Stars will put up a fight, but for the second time in franchise history, the Lightning drink from hockey's holy grail.

Pick: Lightning in 6!