2020 Stanley Cup Final

The 2020 Stanley Cup Final was the championship series of the National Hockey League's 2019–20 season and the culmination of the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs. This series was between the Eastern Conference champion Tampa Bay Lightning and the Western Conference champion Dallas Stars. The Lightning won the best-of-seven series, four games to two, for their second championship in franchise history. The Lightning had home-ice advantage in the series with the better regular season record. The series began on September 19 and concluded on September 28. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire series was played behind closed doors at Rogers Place in Edmonton. The pandemic resulted in the league suspending the regular season on March 12, 2020, and then scheduling a special 24-team playoff format to be held in two neutral "hub cities" that began on August 1. Thus it became the first Stanley Cup Final to be played in the month of September.
This was the first Stanley Cup Final since to be played entirely outside the Eastern Time Zone, the first since to be played entirely in one location, the first since to be played entirely in Canada, and the first since to have the Stanley Cup awarded in a Canadian arena. This was the first Stanley Cup Final since to feature a neutral site game and the first Stanley Cup Final to feature two teams from the American Sun Belt.
The Dallas Stars set the record for most playoff games played by a team in a single postseason at 27 games.

Paths to the Final

Return to play

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic, and later that day, the National Basketball Association suspended all games after players tested positive for the virus. One day later, the NHL announced that the 2019–20 season had been paused indefinitely. On May 22, the league and the NHLPA agreed on a basic framework to stage a 24-team playoff tournament behind closed doors, conducted in two neutral "hub" cities to help protect teams from the virus. The details of the plan were announced publicly on May 26. The seeds would be based on each club's points percentage when the season paused on March 12, effectively scrapping the remainder of the regular season. In the opening round of the 24-team playoff format, the top four teams in each conference played each other in a separate seeding round-robin to determine the seeding in the first round. The eight lower seeded teams in each conference played in the qualifying round, a best-of-five series to advance to the next round. The first round through to the Cup Final remained as best-of-seven series. On July 10, along with the ratification of an extension to the collective bargaining agreement, the NHL and the NHLPA formally agreed to begin the playoffs on August 1, with games being hosted by Edmonton and Toronto. U.S. cities were also considered, but were passed over after several U.S. states experienced a spike in COVID-19 cases in late June.

Dallas Stars

This was the franchise's fifth appearance in the Final. They won the Stanley Cup in 1999 before losing the Final in 2000. They also made two appearances as the Minnesota North Stars in 1981 and 1991.
During the offseason, Dallas signed forwards Corey Perry and Joe Pavelski as well as defenceman Andrej Sekera in free agency. The team also re-signed defenceman Taylor Fedun and forward Jason Dickinson. The team made no trades during the regular season.
On December 10, 2019, head coach Jim Montgomery was dismissed due to "unprofessional conduct inconsistent with the core values and beliefs" of both the team and the league, and was replaced by Rick Bowness. Before joining the Stars organization, Bowness had served as associate coach with the Lightning from 2013 to 2018.
When the regular season was suspended on March 12, 2020, the Stars had a 37–24–8 record and a.594 points percentage to finish third in the Central Division and fourth in the Western Conference. After play resumed in the hubs, Dallas placed third in the round robin. The Stars then defeated the Calgary Flames in six games in the first round, the Colorado Avalanche in seven games in the second round, and the Vegas Golden Knights in five games in the Western Conference finals.

Tampa Bay Lightning

This was the Tampa Bay Lightning's third appearance in the Final. They won the Stanley Cup in 2004 before losing the Final in 2015.
During the offseason, Backup goaltender Louis Domingue was dealt to the New Jersey Devils for a conditional seventh-round draft pick in 2021. Defenseman Anton Stralman left the team in free agency after five seasons and signed a three-year contract with the inne-state rival Florida Panthers. Right winger Ryan Callahan's career was effectively ended when he was diagnosed with a degenerative back disease. Defenseman Dan Girardi went unsigned over the summer and eventually announced his retirement from playing hockey effective immediately after his two-year contract he signed in 2017. To make up for these losses, Tampa Bay signed goaltender Curtis McElhinney, defencemen Luke Schenn, Luke Witkowski, and Kevin Shattenkirk, and forward Patrick Maroon during free agency. Tampa Bay also re-signed goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy and forwards Cedric Paquette and Brayden Point. During the regular season, the Lightning traded for forwards Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow. They also signed Zach Bogosian whose contract had been terminated by the Buffalo Sabres during the season. During Phase 2 of the Return to Play plan, captain Steven Stamkos injured himself while skating, and subsequently missed the round robin and the first three rounds of the playoffs for the Lightning.
When the regular season was suspended on March 12, the Lightning had a 42–21–6 record and a.657 points percentage to finish second in both the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference. After play resumed in the hubs, Tampa Bay placed second in the round robin. The Lightning then defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round, including winning game one of the series that became the fourth longest game in NHL history, and the Presidents' Trophy-winning Boston Bruins in the second round in five games respectively. The Lightning then eliminated the New York Islanders in the Eastern Conference finals in six games.

Game summaries

Game one

In the first period of game one, neither team produced many shots, yet each scored a goal. The first goal came from Stars defenceman Joel Hanley who took an open pass from Roope Hintz. Tampa Bay equalized the score on left winger Yanni Gourde's skate deflection. In the second period, both teams produced more shots, however, Dallas was up by two at the end of the period. Jamie Oleksiak fired a wrist shot which rebounded back to him which he then shot it over Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to make it 2–1. The Stars' third goal started in their own end with Esa Lindell passing to Joel Kiviranta. Kiviranta then skated through centre, firing a shot that was blocked, but picked up the rebound to put it past Vasilevskiy for a 3–1 lead. In the third period, the Stars played more defensively, putting up only two shots compared to the Lightning who fired twenty-two shots at Anton Khudobin. The Stars held their ground for the remaining 20 minutes, and Jason Dickinson's empty-net goal sealed a 4–1 victory for Dallas.

Game two

In game two, the Lightning struck three times in the first period. Twice on the power-play, Victor Hedman and Nikita Kucherov set up both goal-scorers. The first came from a tic-tac-toe pass to Brayden Point firing it past Stars goalie Anton Khudobin. The second goal was another set-up pass; this time Kucherov fed it through the middle where Ondrej Palat made it 2–0. The Lightning made it 3–0 when the Stars fumbled the puck in their own zone and Anthony Cirelli gave it to Kevin Shattenkirk, whose shot at the blue line deflected off of Esa Lindell and past Khudobin. In the second period, the Stars shot eighteen times at Andrei Vasilevskiy and caught a break on the power-play. During Palat's slashing penalty, John Klingberg's shot deflected off of fellow Stars forward Joe Pavelski to cut the score to 3–1. Later in the period, a hit on Stars player Blake Comeau caused a skirmish to erupt, with Dallas players Corey Perry and Klingberg against Cedric Paquette and Hedman respectively. All players received simultaneous roughing penalties. In the third period, the Stars made it 3–2 when Mattias Janmark's shot snuck past Vasilevskiy. The Lightning kept their offense going in the final 20 minutes, pouring twelve shots on Khudobin, holding off the Stars, and ending the game 3–2 to tie the series 1–1.

Game three

In game three, Dallas put the heat on Andrei Vasilevskiy in the first period. However, among their sixteen shots, only one goal was successfully scored compared to the Lightning's two. Tampa Bay's first came from a misplay by Miro Heiskanen giving Nikita Kucherov a breakaway, sniping the puck past Anton Khudobin. Their second goal came from their captain Steven Stamkos returning from injury for his first game since being injured on February 25. After a rush by the Stars was stopped in the offensive zone, Victor Hedman passed the puck to Stamkos, who was racing on the right side, upon which he fired his shot over Khudobin's blocker to make it 2–0. The Stars' lone goal of the period came short-handed when a shot by Roope Hintz was stopped by Vasilevskiy. The rebound of that save went back to Hintz in the left corner who then passed to an open Jason Dickinson, whose shot got through Vasilevskiy to make it 2–1. The Lightning had a more dominant approach in the second period, putting off 21 shots and scoring three times. The first goal came following Alexander Radulov's hooking penalty which carried over from the first period. After a puck battle behind the net, Anthony Cirelli, who was falling down on the play, passed to Hedman who shot the puck under Khudobin's stick into the net. Tampa Bay's fourth goal arrived when the Stars began a line change and a 3-on-1 developed with Kucherov leading the rush and Brayden Point scoring the goal. The Lightning continued their offensive zone coverage towards the end of the period and in the final minute-and-a-half, Point fired a shot that rebounded to Ondrej Palat, who put it into the net for a 5–1 lead. Dallas then pulled Khudobin before the third period, replacing him with rookie Jake Oettinger. The Stars, showing some frustration, began roughing the Lightning on three occasions: the first with Mattias Janmark and Palat; then both Jamie Benn and Jan Rutta, who had a skirmish after the play, both earning misconducts as a result; and an errant cross-check at 18:05 by Joe Pavelski on Cedric Paquette, which caused a ruckus with both teams. Heiskanen's goal gave the Stars some life in the third period, but Tampa Bay's defense kept the Stars at bay, winning the game 5–2 and taking a 2–1 series lead.