WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Washington Capitals are facing elimination, the Tampa Bay Lightning are one win away from the Stanley Cup Final, and yet the talk leading up to Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final was about a team thousands of miles away, in a different conference.
"They're a wonderful story," said Lightning coach Jon Cooper of the expansion Vegas Golden Knights, who are four wins away from winning the Stanley Cup in their inaugural season after dispatching the Winnipeg Jets in five games on Sunday.
While a first-year team making this kind of playoff run is the stuff of underdog legends, Cooper said the Knights' success is easy to comprehend, if not exactly predictable.