The Tampa Bay Lightning are a National Hockey League (NHL) franchise that began play in 1992. After some initial struggles, their biggest success came in 2004 with the franchise's first-ever Stanley Cup championship.
Led by playoff heroes like Brad Richards, Martin St. Louis and goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, the Lightning defeated the Calgary Flames in a memorable finals series. Unforgettable is St. Louis' overtime winner in Game 6.
In the following years, the Lightning established themselves as an elite team with key contributors like Vincent Lecavalier, Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman. Two more Stanley Cup triumphs under captain Stamkos and Conn Smythe winner Andrei Vasilevskiy followed in 2015, 2020, and 2021.
Today's young, talented core features Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov and Russian Mikhail Sergachev. The passionate fans at Amalie Arena relentlessly spur on their Bolts - capturing that next Stanley Cup seems only a matter of time.