The Lightning won the Stanley Cup in back-to-back seasons, the second team to repeat as champions in the last ten years. The Pittsburgh Penguins did in 2016 and 2017, and only eight teams have repeated as champions in the past century.
In 2020, Tampa Bay defeated the Dallas Stars in six games inside the playoff bubble in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. In 2021, they defeated the Montreal Canadiens in five games, this time at Amalie Arena in Tampa, and after a shortened COVID season.
It was Joe Biden's first time honouring an NHL team for a Stanley Cup championship, and it showed by him mispronouncing Gary Bettman's name when thanking the NHL and its commissioner for appearing at the White House.
Instead of saying Bettman, Biden called him BATman. Lightning All-Star defenseman Victor Hedman is seen in the background cracking up, and rightfully so.
