2021 Stanley Cup Final

Season Context and Format

The 2021 Stanley Cup Final was profoundly shaped by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the NHL to adopt a unique structure for the entire season. Due to cross-border travel restrictions between Canada and the United States, the league temporarily realigned into four regional divisions for the 2020-21 campaign, abandoning the traditional Eastern and Western Conferences. All seven Canadian teams were placed into the new North Division, and each team played a shortened 56-game schedule consisting solely of intra-divisional matchups. The playoff format was also altered to accommodate the travel restrictions, with the first two rounds conducted entirely within each division.

The four divisional playoff champions were then re-seeded by regular season points in the Stanley Cup semifinals. This process delayed any possibility of cross-border travel until the third round of the playoffs. Under a normal playoff format, this Final series matchup would be impossible as both the Lightning and Canadiens compete in the NHL's Eastern Conference. However, under the temporarily realigned divisions and total omission of the usual conferences, this scenario became possible. The league explored the possibility of having the Canadian team that advanced to the third round hold their home games in a neutral NHL city in the U.S. but were granted a cross-border travel exemption approved by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Due to local COVID-19 health protocols during the regular season, all 24 American teams hosted limited numbers of in-person spectators while all seven Canadian teams played behind closed doors. During the first three rounds of the playoffs, a number of U.S. teams further increased their capacities, and three of the Canadian playoff teams admitted spectators for the first time. By the time the Final started, Florida health officials had allowed the Lightning to admit 16,300 fans at Amalie Arena for game one, then allowed up to 100 percent capacity for game two and beyond. The Canadiens were permitted to issue 3,500 tickets for the Bell Centre, up from 2,500 earlier in the playoffs, after Quebec health officials denied the team's request to increase it to 10,500 fans before game three.

Paths to the Championship Series

The Montreal Canadiens entered the playoffs as a significant underdog, having finished the regular season with a 24-21-11 record for fourth place in the North Division. Their journey to the Final was marked by resilience and a mid-season coaching change, as head coach Claude Julien was fired on February 24, 2021, after the team registered a 9-5-4 record to start the season, with assistant Dominique Ducharme taking over as interim coach. The team had bolstered its roster in the offseason with trades and free agent signings, acquiring Josh Anderson, Tyler Toffoli, Michael Frolik, and Corey Perry, while also re-signing goaltender Jake Allen and forward Brendan Gallagher. During the season, Hobey Baker Award winner and rookie Cole Caufield made his debut with the Canadiens, and the team traded for forward Eric Staal as well as defencemen Jon Merrill and Erik Gustafsson.

In the playoffs, the Canadiens came back from a 3-1 deficit in their series with their rival Toronto Maple Leafs to win in seven games. They then swept the Winnipeg Jets in the second round and knocked off the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup semifinals in six games. This was Montreal's 35th Stanley Cup Final appearance. They have won the Stanley Cup a record twenty-four times and are the most recent Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup, doing so in 1993. As they had in the past, the Canadiens used the French version of the Stanley Cup Final logo patch on their jerseys.

Tampa Bay finished with a 36-17-3 record to finish third in the Central Division. Tampa Bay made very few transactions to gain players in the offseason. They traded away Braydon Coburn and Cedric Paquette and let Zach Bogosian, Kevin Shattenkirk, and Carter Verhaeghe walk via free agency. They re-signed Anthony Cirelli, Patrick Maroon, Luke Schenn, and Mikhail Sergachev. During the season, they traded for defenceman David Savard and traded away forward Alexander Volkov. Forward Nikita Kucherov, who had hip surgery prior to the regular season, returned for the playoffs.

In the playoffs, the Lightning defeated their intrastate rival, the Florida Panthers, in six games in the first round. The Lightning then triumphed over the Carolina Hurricanes in five games and in the Stanley Cup semifinals, a rematch of the previous year's Eastern Conference final, they defeated the New York Islanders in seven games. This was Tampa Bay's second consecutive and fourth overall Final appearance. They won the previous year against the Dallas Stars in six games. Tampa Bay had home-ice advantage in the series with the better regular season record.

Series Summary

The Lightning took the lead early in the first period of game one on a goal by Erik Cernak. In the second period, the Lightning grabbed a 2-0 lead when Blake Coleman's shot deflected off of Yanni Gourde and into the net. The Lightning regained their two-goal lead in the third period when Nikita Kucherov's shot got swatted by Ben Chiarot and into his own net. After Brayden Point won a faceoff, Kucherov fired a wrist shot past Carey Price to gain a 4-1 lead. Towards the end of the third period, Joel Edmundson took a roughing penalty and on the ensuing power-play, Kucherov passed to Steven Stamkos whose shot got past Price for a 5-1 lead, sealing the victory and ending Montreal's penalty-killing streak at 32.

In game two, the Canadiens poured off more shots than in the first game. The first period saw Montreal make thirteen shots compared to Tampa Bay's six, but neither team scored. In the second period, Montreal had more than double the shots of Tampa Bay, yet the Lightning ended up with two goals. The first Lightning goal came from Anthony Cirelli, whose point shot pinballed in off of Carey Price's blocker. Montreal tied the score on a power-play when Nick Suzuki floated a backhand shot under Andrei Vasilevskiy's pads. With 1.1 seconds left in the second period, Barclay Goodrow passed to Blake Coleman who shot it past Price for a buzzer-beater. In the third period, an errant pass by Joel Edmundson gave the puck away to Ondrej Palat, scoring the goal that made it 3-1, and at the end of the game, both Corey Perry and Cirelli each received misconducts after an altercation.

In the first four minutes of the first period of game three, the Lightning grabbed a 2-0 lead on goals from Jan Rutta and Victor Hedman. The Canadiens were able to score a goal within their seventeen shots as Phillip Danault's wrist shot ripped off both posts and past Andrei Vasilevskiy. In the second period, the Lightning scored another two goals in the first four minutes from Nikita Kucherov and Tyler Johnson to take a 4-1 lead. However, Montreal scored again as Nick Suzuki shot the puck under Vasilevskiy's pads to bring their deficit to two. In the third period, the Lightning gained a three-goal lead again when Tyler Johnson scored his second goal of the game. The Canadiens quickly rebounded after pulling their goalie and Corey Perry scored top-shelf over Vasilevskiy, but with the empty net, Blake Coleman backhanded the puck into the net and the game ended 6-3.

In the first period of game four, the Canadiens scored first, taking their first lead in the series, as Nick Suzuki made a passing play to Josh Anderson who fired it past Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Lightning were able to continue pressuring the Canadiens into the second period, leading to a goal by Barclay Goodrow. In the third period, Alexander Romanov fired a wrist shot from the blue line, scoring to make it 2-1 for Montreal. The Lightning tied it five minutes later when Patrick Maroon scored, ending his goal-scoring drought. With the game tied 2-2 after the third period, both teams headed to overtime. In overtime, the Canadiens killed a double-minor penalty caused by Shea Weber and less than a minute later, Anderson put the puck past Vasilevskiy, preventing the first four-game sweep in the Final since 1998, and winning the game 3-2.

Tampa Bay dominated during the first period of game five, recording thirteen shots on target to the Canadiens' four, but neither team scored. The second period had the opposite trend, with the Canadiens getting ten shots compared to the Lightning's six shots. Nevertheless, it was Tampa Bay who scored the opening goal, when Ryan McDonagh set up a David Savard shot that was tipped in by Ross Colton. It would prove to be the only goal of the contest. Tampa Bay held onto their one-goal lead throughout the third period, with Andrei Vasilevskiy recording a shutout. The 1-0 victory won the series for Tampa Bay and their second consecutive Stanley Cup. With their victory, the Lightning became the first team since the 1983 New York Islanders to win the Stanley Cup without winning an overtime game during the playoffs.

Awards and Engraving

The Stanley Cup was presented to Lightning captain Steven Stamkos by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman following the Lightning's 1-0 win in Game Five. Vasilevskiy was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player during the playoffs, becoming the first goaltender since Jonathan Quick in 2012 to win the award. With their victory, the Lightning became the first team since the 1983 New York Islanders to win the Stanley Cup without winning an overtime game during the playoffs. Patrick Maroon won the Stanley Cup in three consecutive seasons, a feat which hadn't occurred since multiple members of the 1983 New York Islanders accomplished it.

The following Lightning players and staff qualified to have their names engraved on the Stanley Cup. Cal Foote played in 35 regular season games, but did not play in the playoffs. Due to the shortened season, he played in at least half of the regular season games and automatically qualified to have his name engraved, despite playing in fewer games than what would usually be required. Penny Vinik, Ryan Hamilton, Jean-Philippe Cote, and Ben Morgan were left off the Stanley Cup engraving for the 2020 title, but included on the 2021 title engraving. Nigel Kirwan, Tom Mulligan, Ray Thill, and Ryan Belec had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay in 2004, 2020, and 2021.

Pat Maroon won his third consecutive Stanley Cup, after winning in 2019 with St. Louis and 2020 with Tampa Bay. He is the first player to do so since multiple members of the New York Islanders accomplished the feat in 1982 and 1983. He was also the first player since 1963 to win three cups in a row with two different teams, previously accomplished by Ed Litzenberger with Chicago in 1961 and Toronto in 1962 and 1963. Eleven players were on the roster during the playoffs, but left off the Stanley Cup engraving due to not qualifying. Tampa Bay did not request an exemption to engrave their names. They received championship rings.

Broadcast and Media Coverage

The series began on June 28, 2021, and concluded on July 7, 2021, marking the first time that games in the Stanley Cup Final were held in July.

The series began on June 28, 2021, and concluded on July 7, 2021. This marked the first time that games in the Stanley Cup Final were held in July. The scheduling of the series meant no games were held on either Canada Day (July 1) or American Independence Day (July 4) to avoid scheduling conflicts with the holidays. This contributed to the historic nature of the series, as it was the first time Stanley Cup Final games were played in the month of July.

In the United States, this was the sixteenth consecutive and final Stanley Cup Final produced by NBC Sports under their ten-year contract for American television rights to the NHL. NBCSN aired the first two games, while NBC televised the rest of the series, and when the series started only the first two games were available on Peacock, NBC's streaming service. However, on July 2, the day of Game Three, NBCUniversal announced that the remainder of the series would also be available on Peacock for subscribers. Under the new seven-year contracts that began the next season, coverage of the Stanley Cup Final would be rotated annually between ABC in even years and TNT in odd years.

The series began on June 28, 2021, and concluded on July 7, 2021. This marked the first time that games in the Stanley Cup Final were held in July. The scheduling of the series meant no games were held on either Canada Day (July 1) or American Independence Day (July 4) to avoid scheduling conflicts with the holidays. This contributed to the historic nature of the series, as it was the first time Stanley Cup Final games were played in the month of July.

Historical Significance and Records

This Final matchup broke the Stanley Cup Final record for highest combined seed between teams, with 26. Tampa Bay was the 8th seed and Montreal was the 18th seed. This record was previously held by the 1991 Stanley Cup Final, which had a combined seed of 23. The Canadiens themselves became the lowest-seeded team to ever reach the Stanley Cup Final, completing an unlikely playoff run as the worst team by record to make the 2021 playoffs.

Questions about 2021 Stanley Cup Final

Who won the 2021 Stanley Cup Final and in how many games?

The Tampa Bay Lightning won the 2021 Stanley Cup Final. The Lightning won the best-of-seven series, four games to one, for their second consecutive and the third overall championship in franchise history. The series concluded on July 7, 2021, with a 1-0 victory in Game Five. The only goal was scored by rookie Ross Colton on a tip of a David Savard shot.

How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect the playoff format?

The cross-border travel restrictions under the pandemic forced the league to temporarily realign this season into four divisions with no conferences, putting all seven Canadian teams into one of those divisions. Consequently, a divisional-based postseason format was held, featuring intra-divisional matchups in the first two rounds. The four divisional playoff champions were then re-seeded by regular season points in the Stanley Cup semifinals. As such, these were the first playoffs since 1981 played outside the conference format, making the Tampa Bay-Montreal Final possible.

Which teams competed in the 2021 Stanley Cup Final and what was their seeding?

The 2021 Stanley Cup Final featured the Montreal Canadiens and the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning. Tampa Bay entered as the 8th seed while Montreal was the 18th seed. This matchup set a record for the highest combined seed total in Stanley Cup Final history at 26, breaking the previous record of 23 set in 1991. The Lightning had home ice advantage due to their superior regular season record.

When did the 2021 Stanley Cup Final take place?

The 2021 Stanley Cup Final began on June 28, 2021, and concluded on July 7, 2021. The series was held later than usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic delaying the start of the season. This marked the first time Stanley Cup Final games were ever played in the month of July. No games were scheduled on Canada Day (July 1) or American Independence Day (July 4) to avoid conflicts.

How many fans were allowed to attend the 2021 Stanley Cup Final games?

Fan attendance varied by location due to local health protocols. For Game 1 in Tampa, officials allowed 16,300 fans, which was 85 percent of Amalie Arena's capacity. For Games 2 through 5, Tampa was permitted up to 100 percent capacity. In Montreal, Quebec health officials allowed 3,500 tickets for games at the Bell Centre, which was an increase from 2,500 earlier in the playoffs but less than the team's request for 10,500 fans.

What was the path of the Montreal Canadiens to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final?

The Montreal Canadiens finished fourth in the North Division with a 24-21-11 record. In the playoffs, they overcame a 3-1 series deficit to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games. They then swept the Winnipeg Jets in the second round. Finally, they advanced to the Final by defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in six games in the Stanley Cup semifinals. This was their first Final appearance since winning the Cup in 1993.

Sources: Wikipedia and current public reporting, checked by the Garbutt Disposal desk. Last updated 2026-10-20.