Blackhawks: The Stanley Cup Final Could End Tonight

If the Tampa Bay Lightning complete the sweep tonight in Montreal and win back-to-back championships, it will be the sixth time some other team, not the Blackhawks, will skate around on the ice with the Stanley Cup.

The Blackhawks have been in the playoffs three times since winning it all in 2015. They have not won a playoff series and have only won four games through three trips to the postseason. Chicago is going to have to work hard to get back on track. Let’s take a look at some of the past Stanley Cup Winners.

Stanley Cup Winners since the Chicago Blackhawks won in 2015:

Pittsburgh Penguins – 2016

Pittsburgh Penguins – 2017

Washington Capitals – 2018 

St. Louis Blues – 2019 

Tampa Bay Lightning – 2020 

??????? – 2021 

The Tampa Bay Lightning have an opportunity to win back-to-back championships tonight. While I know no team ever purposely tries to lose a game, for the Lightning one might think the opportunity to win it at home in front of their own fans in a game five would be kind of nice.

More from Blackhawk Up

• Blackhawks: Grading Connor Murphy and a position comparison
• Blackhawks: Shuffling the lines to try and spark offense at 5 on 5
• These Lineup Changes could Solve the Blackhawks’ Scoring Problem
• Blackhawks: List Of Things To Be Thankful For This Thanksgiving
• The perfect holiday gifts for the Chicago Blackhawks fan

Tampa Bay is not going to throw a game in the Stanley Cup Final, they just won’t do that. Even though they won last season’s championship in a bubble with no fans in the stands an opportunity to take the Stanley Cup back to Tampa is something they won’t pass on no matter what. However, they definitely are good enough to lose a game and then go back home to finish the series.

The Lightning have steamrolled their way past Montreal. They have controlled play through the first three games and they are on their way to winning it all again. This might be one of the easiest looking back-to-back championships we will ever see. Not discrediting the Lightning, they are just so much better than everyone else in the league right now.

Tampa played the entire season on autopilot and now that they are back in the postseason they turned it on and ran with it. A team that good is going to have some cap problems this summer, but there is no doubt that they will be back next season as well.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have definitely come a long way since losing to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games back in 2015. That team was young and looked like they were poised to become one of the best teams in the league. Now some six seasons later they are at the top of their game.

"Jonathan Toews Looks to Return to Blackhawks This Season"

What does everyone think, do the Lightning win back-to-back championships tonight in Montreal? Or will we see another push from the Canadiens to elude elimination as they did after going down 3-1 against the Toronto Maple Leafs?