Theyve overcome injury. Theyve overcome scrutiny. Theyve overcome the ghosts of 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019. And now now the Tampa Bay Lightning are knocking on the door of their second Stanley Cup Championship in franchise history.

Theyve done it with the offensive outpouring of Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman, and Ondrej Palat. Theyve done it with the stern resiliency of Andrei Vasilevskiy who has played every minute in the bubble. Theyve done it in spite of the roaring criticisms of head coach Jon Cooper.

But the job isnt done.

The Lightning enter Saturday nights game against the Dallas Stars up 3-1 in the series and can end it all with a win in game five. Two months in the bubble and they can return home as champions of the National Hockey League.

It hasnt been easy. The word Ive stressed time and time again has been resiliency. They were resilient yet again in game four. Down 2-0 in the first then Brayden Point had one of the most spectacular breakaways in Lightning postseason history thanks to an incredible pass from Palat.

Down 3-2, its Alex Killorn who rip a turnaround shot that gets past Anton Khudobin for the tie. Its Yanni Gourde who puts the team up 4-3 in the third period until Kevin Shattenkirk sees a puck redirect off his knee and go into his own goal to tie the game at 4-4.

Then thenwe get the embellishment call. Im not going to dive too much into the officiating but there is no man on earth that could have taken the shot to the groin Point did and not react the same way. And for any Stars fans reading this yes, that was absolutely a penalty on Jamie Benn. Playoffs or not, you cant scream and cry about officiating with a completely legitimate penalty while the Lightning were called for embellishment and the Stars got away with two high sticks and a crosscheck to the neck. The Lightning have one more power play in the series than Dallas. The difference is that Tampa Bay is capitalizing on their power plays while the Stars are not.

Anyway, back to Shattenkirk. The man who saw the tying goal ricochet off himself resiliency. It was off his stick that the game winning goal was sniped past Khudobin. He went from the goat to the hero in a matter of minutes.

So, it all comes down to this. The Lightning can end the series or the Stars can live to see another game. There hasnt been a team come behind from being down 3-1 in a Stanley Cup Finals and win it all since 1942. Seventy-eight years. The Stars are in a position where they are going to attempt something that hasnt been done since the league was expanded beyond the original six. Its up to the Lightning to stop them.

Its disappointing that Steven Stamkos will not suit up in game five, but as I talked about here, that 2:47 of ice time in game three may have been all his teammates needed from him to get them over the top. Its up to the men that got them to this point Kucherov, Hedman, Point, and Vasy to finish the job and bring home the cup. Dont let the Stars back in it. Dont give them a reason to believe. Step on the gas step on theirthroats and dont you dare let up for one second.

Sixty minutes away. Sixty minutes from finishing what was started in 2015. Sixty minutes from immortality. Hopefully, thats all the Lightning will need.

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Lightning on the doorstep of a championship - Bolts by the Bay