It isn’t as though every team that survives four postseason rounds to win the Stanley Cup comes across as divisive and fans the flames of hockey’s online discord with its mere championship presence alone. But there is something distinctly harmonious about the reaction and conversation abound since the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Dallas Stars in the first NHL’s championship series to be contested in a bubble, and for finally winning it all after a decade run of near-unparalleled success.
It could be because the Lightning are unique in their ability to satisfy the set of principles that just about anyone holds while viewing the game through their own lens.