The 2021 Stanley Cup Final was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2020–21 season and the culmination of the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs. The series was between the Montreal Canadiens and the defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning won the best-of-seven series, four games to one, for their second consecutive and the third overall championship in franchise history. Tampa Bay had home-ice advantage in the series with the better regular season record.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic that both shortened and delayed the start of the regular season, 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 cross-border travel restrictions under the pandemic also 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, with the winners of the semifinals advancing to the Stanley Cup Final; as such, these were the first playoffs since 1981 played outside the conference format. 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.
This was the first Final since played entirely in the Eastern Time Zone, and first since to feature a Canadian-based team.
This Final matchup broke the Stanley Cup Final record for highest combined seed between teams, with 26 (Tampa Bay 8th, and Montreal 18th). This record was previously held by the 1991 Stanley Cup Final, which had a combined seed of 23.
Paths to the Final
Impact of COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the league for the second straight year with the Government of Canada and the Government of the United States both maintaining their cross-border travel restrictions. Consequently, the league temporarily realigned for this season into four regional divisions with no conferences, putting all seven Canadian teams into one of those divisions. Each team played 56 regular season games, all intra-divisional matchups. The league returned to the traditional 16-team playoff format, with the first two rounds of the playoffs also featuring intra-divisional matchups. This format delayed any possibility of cross-border travel until the third round. 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. The Canadiens were the first (and only) team from Canada to offer tickets to the general public. By the time the Final started, Florida health officials had allowed the Lightning to admit 16,300 fans (85 percent of full capacity) at Amalie Arena for game one, then allowed up to 100% 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 (50 percent of capacity) before game three.
Montreal Canadiens
This was Montreal's 35th Stanley Cup Final appearance. They have won the Stanley Cup a record twenty-four times (the second most championships in major North American sports behind the New York Yankees' twenty-seven World Series victories). They are the most recent Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup, doing so in 1993 (their most recent Final appearance) against the Los Angeles Kings, winning in five games. They were also the first Canadian team since the 2011 Vancouver Canucks to reach the Final.
During the offseason, the Canadiens traded left wing Max Domi and a third-round pick for right wing Josh Anderson. They also picked up forwards Tyler Toffoli, Michael Frolik, and Corey Perry in free agency. The team also re-signed goaltender Jake Allen and forward Brendan Gallagher. During the season, Hobey Baker Award winner and rookie Cole Caufield made his debut with the Canadiens. The team traded for forward Eric Staal as well as defencemen Jon Merrill and Erik Gustafsson.
On February 24, 2021, head coach Claude Julien was fired after coaching the team through parts of five seasons during his second stint as head coach of the Canadiens, which had registered a 9–5–4 record to start the season. Assistant coach Dominique Ducharme was named interim head coach.
The team finished with a record of 24–21–11 to finish fourth in the North Division. 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, swept the Winnipeg Jets in the second round, and knocked off the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup semifinals in six games.
As they had in the past, the Canadiens used the French version of the Stanley Cup Final logo patch on their jerseys.
Tampa Bay Lightning
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 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.
Tampa Bay finished with a 36–17–3 record to finish third in the Central Division. 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.
Game summaries Note: The numbers in parentheses represent each player's total goals or assists to that point of the entire playoffs.
Game one
The Lightning took the lead early in the first period. With Tampa Bay defenseman Erik Cernak joining the rush with Ondrej Palat, Palat passed to an open Cernak who fired a wrist shot past Carey Price resulting in a 1–0 lead for Tampa Bay. In the second period, the Lightning grabbed a 2–0 lead when Blake Coleman's shot through traffic deflected off of Yanni Gourde and into the net. The Canadiens then halved the Lightning's lead as their offensive-zone coverage swept Tampa Bay's end setting up Ben Chiarot for a one-timer and Montreal's first goal of the game. The Lightning regained their two-goal lead in the third period when Nikita Kucherov's shot across the net got swatted by Chiarot and into his own net. After Brayden Point won a faceoff, the puck was picked up by Kucherov who fired a wrist shot past Price to gain a 4–1 lead. Towards the end of the third period and with frustrations boiling over for Montreal, Joel Edmundson took a roughing penalty with 2:40 left in the period. On the ensuing power-play, Kucherov passed to captain Steven Stamkos whose shot got past Price for a 5–1 lead, sealing the victory for the Lightning. The goal ended Montreal's penalty-killing streak at 32.
Scoring summaryPeriodTeamGoalAssist(s)TimeScore1st TBL Erik Cernak (1) Ondrej Palat (7), Brayden Point (7) 06:19 1–0 TBL2nd TBL Yanni Gourde (6) Blake Coleman (7), Barclay Goodrow (2) 05:47 2–0 TBL MTL Ben Chiarot (3) Jesperi Kotkaniemi (3), Shea Weber (4) 17:40 2–1 TBL3rd TBL Nikita Kucherov (6) Mikhail Sergachev (3) 02:00 3–1 TBL TBL Nikita Kucherov (7) Brayden Point (8) 11:25 4–1 TBL TBL Steven Stamkos (8) – pp Nikita Kucherov (23), Brayden Point (9) 18:50 5–1 TBLPenalty summaryPeriodTeamPlayerPenaltyTimePIM1st TBL Barclay Goodrow Cross checking 15:21 2:00 MTL Ben Chiarot Roughing 19:14 2:002ndNone3rd TBL Erik Cernak Roughing 06:30 2:00 MTL Eric Staal Roughing 06:30 2:00 TBL Blake Coleman Roughing 13:42 2:00 MTL Jesperi Kotkaniemi High-sticking 15:51 2:00 MTL Joel Edmundson Roughing 17:20 2:00 Shots by periodTeam123Total 5 9 5 19 7 12 8 27
Game two
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. However, neither team was able to score in the opening frame. In the second period, Montreal had more than double the shots of Tampa Bay, yet the Lightning ended up with two goals in contrast to the Canadiens' one. The first Lightning goal came from Anthony Cirelli, whose point shot pinballed in off of Carey Price's blocker and into the net. After Lightning defenceman Mikhail Sergachev committed an interference penalty on Artturi Lehkonen, Montreal tied the score on a power-play when Nick Suzuki floated a backhand shot through traffic and under Andrei Vasilevskiy's pads. With 1.1 seconds left in the second period, Tampa Bay forward Barclay Goodrow got past Ben Chiarot forcing a two-on-one with Blake Coleman. Goodrow passed it to Coleman who shot it past Price for the buzzer-beater. In the third period, Montreal continued to pressure the Lightning and Vasilevskiy, however, after a dump-in by Tampa Bay ended up in the Canadiens' zone, an errant pass off the boards by Joel Edmundson gave the puck away to Ondrej Palat, scoring the goal that made it 3–1. At the end of the game, both Corey Perry and Cirelli each received misconducts after an altercation.
Scoring summaryPeriodTeamGoalAssist(s)TimeScore1st None2nd TBL Anthony Cirelli (5) Tyler Johnson (2), Jan Rutta (1) 06:40 1–0 TBL MTL Nick Suzuki (6) – pp Unassisted 10:36 1–1 TBL Blake Coleman (2) Barclay Goodrow (3), Ryan McDonagh (6) 19:58 2–1 TBL3rd TBL Ondrej Palat (5) Unassisted 15:42 3–1 TBLPenalty summaryPeriodTeamPlayerPenaltyTimePIM1st MTL Jeff Petry Tripping 05:29 2:00 MTL Paul Byron Slashing 09:57 2:00 MTL Paul Byron Slashing 17:27 2:00 TBL Erik Cernak Cross checking 17:27 2:00 TBL Ryan McDonagh High-sticking – double minor 17:32 4:002nd TBL Mikhail Sergachev Interference 10:03 2:00 MTL Joel Armia High-sticking 16:38 2:003rd TBL Anthony Cirelli Cross checking 20:00 2:00 TBL Anthony Cirelli Misconduct 20:00 10:00 MTL Corey Perry Roughing 20:00 2:00 MTL Corey Perry Misconduct 20:00 10:00 Shots by periodTeam123Total 13 16 14 43 6 7 10 23
Game three