The Tampa Bay Lightning have done it, and secured their second consecutive Stanley Cup championship in front of their home fans in a thrilling Game 5 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Tampa Bay is your 2021 Stanley Cup champion!
A star-studded Lightning lineup left no doubt of their superiority throughout the postseason, encapsulated by five games in the Final that rang true to what Tampa Bay has done over the years: fast, relentless hockey with precision and chemistry that no team has been able to deal with over the past two seasons.
Fanatics, as always, is first on the scene with licensed Tampa Bay Lightning championship apparel from the 2021 feat.
Check out the latest and greatest styles of Lightning 2021 Stanley Cup champions merchandise at Fanatics. You’ll see the official Lightning locker room hat and shirt below, but click into our one-stop shop for everything from Lightning Stanley Cup collectibles and autographs, to accessories and hoodies.
There’s no questioning that the Lightning are defined by their stacked roster with wingers like captain Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov, but they weren’t ultimately the story in these Stanley Cup playoffs. Instead, the Lightning suffocated opponents with their defense, all led by the one in between the pipes.
That man is Andrei Vasilevskiy, and he was awarded with the Conn Smythe Trophy – the Stanley Cup playoff Most Valuable Player. And he deserves it, after leading the Lightning to a shutout victory in the decisive match. In fact, Vasilevskiy secured a shutout in all four of the Lightning’s series-clinching victories – an incredible stat.
Still, there could have been two Conn Smythe Trophies made for each of the last two postseasons with the way that Kucherov led the charge. 2021 marked his second-straight playoffs with 30+ points, after a similarly dominant showing in the bubble last postseason.
As for the Canadiens, they became a great story throughout the postseason as they marched all the way to the Final and gave all of Canada hope that they would be the country’s first team to hoist the Cup since Montreal did it last in 1993. In the end, they never came all that close to ending the streak as the Lightning asserted their dominance throughout the final series and went up three games to none before ending things in five games.
As you shop for the latest Stanley Cup champions gear, look no further than Fanatics, NHL Shop, and be sure to check out our Canadian sites Fanatics Canada and NHL Shop Canada for the best shipping options north of the border.
