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How Virginia basketball inspired the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Stanley Cup title

You might not think that the University of Virginia men’s basketball team and a professional hockey team from Florida have very much in common, but you’d be surprised. Last night, just one year after an embarrassing defeat in the first round of the postseason in 2019, the Tampa Bay Lightning hoisted the Stanley Cup. Some 530 days after being stunned by the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Lightning secured a 2-0 victory over the Dallas Stars in Game 6 of the culmination of the truncated 2020 bubble season.

The Lightning were the heavy favorites in 2019 before the Blue Jackets pulled off their shocking four-game sweep.