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This Is Who Will Win the Stanley Cup

By Tom Buckland

NEWARK, NJ - FEBRUARY 24: The Stanley Cup is on display during Patrik Elias Jersey Retirement Night prior to the National Hockey League Game between the New Jersey Devils and the New York Islanders on February 24, 2018, at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
NEWARK, NJ - FEBRUARY 24: The Stanley Cup is on display during Patrik Elias Jersey Retirement Night prior to the National Hockey League Game between the New Jersey Devils and the New York Islanders on February 24, 2018, at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The Toronto Maple Leafs are out, but hockey goes on.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are back in it.  After suffering back to back losses from the first two matches, a couple hard fought victories over the Washington Capitals have put the Lightning back on track.

Down 2-0, Andre Vasilevskiy has put the team on his back and overcome the Capitals 5v5 dominance to get the team back on top.  

With the crowd at the Capital One Arena at full capacity for last night’s game, and with them cheering the home team on, the Lightning were finally the first team in this series to win a home game.  

Now only one victory stands in their way from playing the Knights (probably) or the Jets for the Stanley Cup.  

I have previously predicted that Tampa will win the East be crowned champions of the NHL this year.  If they can repeat the kind of performances they showed in Game 3, they will prove me right.

 Effective power plays

 A performance built on defensive prowess and their best passing efficiency of the entire season so far, Tampa were able to cut through a Washington unit that up to this game had dealt with the Bolts’ offense with relative ease. And good thing to, because Washington has been the better team at even strength all series.

Whereas Tampa has executed their power plays to maximum effect, the same cannot be said for Washington.  If they could just have bought a break on the PP, they’d already have eliminated the Lightning.  

Looking forward

With the Lightning having won three in a row, the Capitals are looking done, but you can’t count on anything in this series to follow the path of logic.  A team who loses the first two at home should be done.  A team that is getting dominated at 5v5 shouldn’t be leading.  But here we are.

While I predict that the Lightning will win, this series has been anything but predictable.  

The form they showed in the first two games at home will have been forgotten and they will need to show the same defensive resilience to keep this talented Capitals side out.

 Kucherov and Stamkos will be up for the test and with these guys on form along with Hedman, they will do some damage.

Coming back from 0-2 is tough, especially after losing both at home.  But this result will give the Bolts great belief that they can keep the series alive and go on to win the East. 

Next: Leafs Should Trade for Staal

The bottom line is this: the Tampa Bay Lightning are still going to win the Stanley Cup. Hopefully next year, it will be the Toronto Maple Leafs, but for now, I’ll be cheering for Tampa.

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