Canada’s Cup Hopes Head South Again

Tampa Bay Lightning captain Dave Andreychuk, perhaps fittingly, had to watch the last 22 seconds from the penalty box. He had to watch so many Stanley Cup finals in the past.

The clocked ticked down. The Calgary Flames pressed to tie the score. And all Andreychuk could do was agonize.

“I was disappointed that I couldn’t be on the other side with my teammates savoring the moment,” Andreychuk said, then shook his head. “I have been on the other side so many times.”

Andreychuk was finally on the right side.

Tampa Bay held off a late Calgary push, making two Ruslan Fedotenko goals stand up in a 2-1 Game 7 victory, and the Stanley Cup flew south for the summer, cradled first in Andreychuk’s arms.

The Lighting is the first of the 1990s expansion teams to win the Cup. The franchise has been around for 12 seasons. Andreychuk has waited through 22 seasons for his chance to hoist the Cup. No player had played more games, 1,758, without winning the Cup.

At game’s end, he took it from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, raised it to the 22,717 at the St. Pete Times Forum, then hopped up and down like a kid with a new toy.

“What went through my mind was, ‘Don’t fall, don’t drop it,’ ” Andreychuk said. “But it is a moment that has gone through my head lots of times. Finally it happened.”

That coronation seemed on track through two periods, as the Lightning was clearly in control. But the Flames stirred in the third period.

Craig Conroy sent a blue-line dart that found the upper part of the net to cut the Lightning’s lead in half 9 minutes 21 seconds into the third period. Tampa Bay’s hold on the Cup loosened a little, but it never slipped away.

Goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin denied Jordan Leopold’s rebound try at the last moment, batting the puck away with his right hand with three minutes left.

The rest was just gritty work. Andreychuk was a spectator after being sent off for tripping with the Lightning on a power play and had to wait another 22 seconds, one for each season he has played.

“You dream about this day for a long time,” Andreychuk said. “You can’t put into words the things that go through your mind. All the years you get knocked out in the first round. All the years you don’t make the playoffs. All the players you have played with over the years.”

While this might have been Andreychuk’s last NHL moment, it also could be the last joyful one the league sees for quite awhile. The chances for a new collective bargaining agreement grow slimmer every day and a possible lockout looms.

Asked Monday morning about the possibility of a lockout next season, Lightning Coach John Tortorella snapped back: “Don’t talk to me about a lockout. No, no, that’s just a ridiculous question to ask right now.”

But it is one that will be posed many times this summer. Second to that will be the one asked in Canada, “What happened?”

It may be “our game” to so many Canadians. It’s just not their Cup, apparently. No Canadian team has won the Cup since 1993. The Flames seemed on the verge, with a 3-2 series lead that had an entire nation, particularly people in Calgary, prepared for an outburst of nationalism.

But the Lightning won Game 6 in overtime at Calgary, then came home and took care of business.

“This hurts 1,000 times more than anything else I could ever remember,” Flame captain Jarome Iginla said. “We can hear them celebrating right now. It could have been us. We had one shot.”

Iginla, the Flames’ leading man through their playoff run, was reduced to a bit player in the last two games. He did not have a shot on goal Monday.

No one picked up the slack. The Flames had only seven shots through two periods and none of them challenged Khabibulin. Of course the Lightning had only 10 shots through two periods, but two of those mattered.

With the Lightning on a power play, Brad Richards fired a shot from the blue line that goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff stopped. But Fedotenko reached around defenseman Robyn Regehr and knocked the rebound into the net for a 1-0 lead, 13:31 into the game.

Fedotenko, who scored 12 goals during the playoffs, was in the right place again in the second period. He took a Vincent Lecavalier pass and buried the puck into the upper corner of the net for a 2-0 lead 14:38 into the second period. That put the Cup within Andreychuk’s reach.

Said Andreychuk: “I’m so glad that I finally got to, you know, put my name on it.”

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STANLEY CUP WINNERS

*--* Year Winning team Finalist Series 2004 Tampa Bay Lightning Calgary Flames 4-3 2003 New Jersey Devils Mighty Ducks 4-3 2002 Detroit Red Wings Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 2001 Colorado Avalanche New Jersey Devils 4-3 2000 New Jersey Devils Dallas Stars 4-2 1999 Dallas Stars Buffalo Sabres 4-2 1998 Detroit Red Wings Washington Capitals 4-0 1997 Detroit Red Wings Philadelphia Flyers 4-0 1996 Colorado Avalanche Florida Panthers 4-0 1995 New Jersey Devils Detroit Red Wings 4-0 1994 New York Rangers Vancouver Canucks 4-3 1993 Montreal Canadiens Kings 4-1 1992 Pittsburgh Penguins Chicago Blackhawks 4-0 1991 Pittsburgh Penguins Minn. North Stars 4-2 1990 Edmonton Oilers Boston Bruins 4-1 1989 Calgary Flames Montreal Canadiens 4-2 1988 Edmonton Oilers Boston Bruins 4-1 1987 Edmonton Oilers Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 1986 Montreal Canadiens Calgary Flames 4-1 1985 Edmonton Oilers Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 1984 Edmonton Oilers New York Islanders 4-1 1983 New York Islanders Edmonton Oilers 4-0 1982 New York Islanders Vancouver Canucks 4-0 1981 New York Islanders Minn. North Stars 4-1 1980 New York Islanders Philadelphia Flyers 4-2 1979 Montreal Canadiens New York Rangers 4-1 1978 Montreal Canadiens Boston Bruins 4-2 1977 Montreal Canadiens Boston Bruins 4-0 1976 Montreal Canadiens Philadelphia Flyers 4-0 1975 Philadelphia Flyers Buffalo Sabres 4-2 1974 Philadelphia Flyers Boston Bruins 4-2 1973 Montreal Canadiens Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 1972 Boston Bruins New York Rangers 4-2 1971 Montreal Canadiens Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 1970 Boston Bruins St. Louis Blues 4-0 1969 Montreal Canadiens St. Louis Blues 4-0 1968 Montreal Canadiens St. Louis Blues 4-0 1967 Toronto Maple Leafs Montreal Canadiens 4-2 1966 Montreal Canadiens Detroit Red Wings 4-2 1965 Montreal Canadiens Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 1964 Toronto Maple Leafs Detroit Red Wings 4-3 1963 Toronto Maple Leafs Detroit Red Wings 4-1 1962 Toronto Maple Leafs Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 1961 Chicago Black Hawks Detroit Red Wings 4-2 1960 Montreal Canadiens Toronto Maple Leafs 4-0 1959 Montreal Canadiens Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 1958 Montreal Canadiens Boston Bruins 4-2 1957 Montreal Canadiens Boston Bruins 4-1 1956 Montreal Canadiens Detroit Red Wings 4-1 1955 Detroit Red Wings Montreal Canadiens 4-3 1954 Detroit Red Wings Montreal Canadiens 4-3 1953 Montreal Canadiens Boston Bruins 4-1 1952 Detroit Red Wings Montreal Canadiens 4-0 1951 Toronto Maple Leafs Montreal Canadiens 4-1 1950 Detroit Red Wings New York Rangers 4-3 1949 Toronto Maple Leafs Detroit Red Wings 4-0 1948 Toronto Maple Leafs Detroit Red Wings 4-0 1947 Toronto Maple Leafs Montreal Canadiens 4-2 1946 Montreal Canadiens Boston Bruins 4-1 1945 Toronto Maple Leafs Detroit Red Wings 4-3 1944 Montreal Canadiens Chicago Black Hawks 4-0 1943 Detroit Red Wings Boston Bruins 4-0 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs Detroit Red Wings 4-3 1941 Boston Bruins Detroit Red Wings 4-0 1940 New York Rangers Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 1939 Boston Bruins Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 1938 Chicago Black Hawks Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 1937 Detroit Red Wings New York Rangers 3-2 1936 Detroit Red Wings Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 1935 Montreal Maroons Toronto Maple Leafs 3-0 1934 Chicago Black Hawks Detroit Red Wings 3-1 1933 New York Rangers Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 1932 Toronto Maple Leafs New York Rangers 3-0 1931 Montreal Canadiens Chicago Black Hawks 3-2 1930 Montreal Canadiens Boston Bruins 2-0 1929 Boston Bruins New York Rangers 2-0 1928 New York Rangers Montreal Maroons 3-2 1927 Ottawa Senators Boston Bruins 2-1-1 1926 Montreal Maroons Victoria Cougars 3-1 1925 Victoria Cougars Montreal Canadiens 3-2 1924 Montreal Canadiens Vancouver Maroons 3-2 1923 Ottawa Senators Vancouver Maroons 3-1 1922 Toronto St. Patricks Vancouver Millionaires 3-2 1921 Ottawa Senators Vancouver Millionaires 3-2 1920 Ottawa Senators Seattle Metropolitans 3-2 1919 No decision, flu epidemic 1918 Toronto Arenas Vancouver Millionaires 3-2

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