The Tampa Bay Lightning are the 2021 Stanley Cup Champions. The franchise rolled to its third Stanley Cup this past Wednesday, and its second in a row, defeating the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 in Game 5 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL. The Lightning first earned hockey’s greatest prize in 2004 before repeating as champions in 2020 and 2021.

Forward Mathieu Joseph captured his second Stanley Cup. The 24-year old native of Laval, QC dressed in 6 games for the Lightning, including 4 in the Stanley Cup Final. Joseph notched two pivotal assists in Games 3 and 4 to help Tampa defeat the Canadiens. Joseph, who grew up a mere 20 minutes from Montreal, enjoyed a fine season with Tampa, his third with the team, scoring 12 goals and 7 assists over 56 games for a career best 0.34 points per game.

The Bolts continued their run of unrivalled excellence with their victory. No team has scored more goals or played in more playoff series than the Lightning in the past seven seasons. In five of those seasons, the Lightning made the final four, an astounding accomplishment in an era of parity in the NHL.

“It took an incredible team effort […]” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “The players really had to put themselves out there both on and off the ice to get through this with all of our health and safety concerns. It was, for the ultimate team sport, the ultimate team effort.”

Congratulations to Mathieu on earning his second Stanley Cup in as many years!