Live updates: Lightning win back-to-back Stanley Cups

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Rookie Ross Colton scored the only goal as the Lightning beat the Canadiens 1-0 in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final Wednesday before 18,110 at Amalie Arena to clinch a second straight Cup.

Colton redirected a David Savard pass into the slot with 6:33 remaining in the second period as Tampa Bay became the first team since Chicago in 2015 to win an NHL title on home ice.

Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped all 22 shots he faced, closing out his fifth straight playoff series with a shutout.

The Lightning became the eighth franchise to repeat as champions since NHL teams became the sole competitors for the Cup in 1927 and the first since the 2016-17 Pittsburgh Penguins.

Pat Maroon won his third straight Cup, including last season with the Lightning and 2018-19 with the Blues.

Here’s how it happened:

Postgame celebration

Just like last season, the Lightning pose around the Cup as a team before it is presented to captain Steven Stamkos

Victor Hedman, David Savard, Alex Killorn, Ryan McDonagh, Pat Maroon, Nikita Kucherov and Andrei Vasilevskiy are among the first players to hoist the Cup

Vasilevskiy wins the Conn Smythe Trophy. He’s the first goaltender to win the award since the Kings’ Jonathan Quick in 2012.

Third period

Lightning will start with 1:22 remaining on the power play

Lightning struggling to get set up in the Canadiens zone as two failed entries killed much of the first minute

Kucherov pass for Cirelli at the back post broken up by Weber

Edmundson clears the puck out of the zone

Canadiens kill the penalty

Goodrow shot blocked out of play

Kucherov misses high over the net from in front

Palat with a great chance, but Price makes a skate save

Maroon shot from the high slot knocked down by Price

Joseph shot covered by Price

Vasilevskiy makes save on point-blank chance from Anderson with Cernak providing pressure

Anderson, who crashed into the post, leaves for the locker room

Coleman shot blocked by Edmundson

Anderson has returned to the Canadiens’ bench

Lehkonen unable to connect with Evans

Cirelli makes a diving block on Romanov shot from the right point

Gourde shot from the right circle blocked by Romanov

Suzuki misses high of the net

McDonagh shoots wide from the center point

Gourde shot saved by Price

Anderson shot from the left circle gloved by Vasilevskiy

Price saves Kucherov backhand shot from the right side

Lehknonen shoots wide from the right circle

Goodrow struggling to get off the ice after blocking a shot

Canadiens pull Price in favor of an extra attacker with less than two minutes left

Lightning ice the puck with 1:24 to play

Canadiens use their timeout

Lightning clear the puck

Goodrow blocks Petry shot from the high slot

(Lightning win 1-0, clinch Stanley Cup)

Second period

David Savard penalized for delay of game

Goodrow sends the puck down the ice

Goodrow again clears the puck

Lightning clear the puck

Cirelli clears the puck out of the zone

Coleman picks off a pass and sktes out of the zone

Lightning kill the penalty. Canadiens 0-for-2

Vasilevskiy with a couple of big saves back to back

Kucherov shot from the right point misses the net

Maroon goes to the net but sliding Romanov takes away any pass opportunity and Maroon’s shot goes harmlessly into Price’s right leg pad

Vasilevskiy makes a blocker save on Jake Evans chance

Loose puck in front is just out of Cirelli’s reach after backhand pass from Ross Colton through the slot

Palat shot from right circle deflects out of play

Rutta hit by Danault behind the Lightning net

Vasilevskiy stops Chiarot drive from the left point

Point shot from right circle saved by Price

Palat just misses a driving Point with a pass to the back post

Mikhail Sergachev penalized for tripping Nick Suzuki

Canadiens no shots on first two power plays. Lightning had three shorthanded

Price gloves Cernak shot from the center point

Hedman flips the puck out of the Lightning zone

Toffoli shoots wide from the right circle

Caufield shoots off the crossbar from a bad angle with Vasilevskiy down on the ice

Lightning kill the penalty. Canadiens 0-for-3

Lightning clear the zone after a long Montreal stretch in the Tampa Bay following a Sergachev turnover in the offensive zone

LIGHTNING GOAL! Ross Colton tips the puck into an empty net after a pass from Savard from the right circle with 6:33 left in the period. McDonagh passed to Savard from the center point. Lightning 1, Canadiens 0.

Anderson just misses connecting with Caufield at the back post on a 3-on-1

Vasilevskiy makes save on Lehkonen tip from the slot after pass from Weber

Point draws a holding penalty against Chiarot

Hedman slap shot stopped by Price

Weber clears the puck out of the Montreal zone

Suzuki sends the puck down the ice

(Lightning lead 1-0 after two periods)

First period

Blake Coleman backhand shot gloved by Carey Price

Nick Suzuki centering pass sticked aside by Andrei Vasilevskiy

Corey Perry penalized for hooking Mathieu Joseph after Tyler Johnson played the puck ahead to him

Brayden Point looses the handle in front of the net

Nikita Kucherov shot from high in the right circle gloved by Price

Phillip Danault wins the faceoff and the Canadiens send the puck down the ice

Ben Chiarot hits Steven Stamkos

Shea Weber breaks up pass for Kucherov

Price covers Kucherov shot from just above the goal line

Pat Maroon redirects Ondrej Palat shot from the right circle but Price makes the stop

Maroon shot from the right boards steered wide by Price’s stick

Lightning with a 7-2 advantage in shots

Great job by Joseph and Johnson on the forecheck, pressuring Brett Kulak behind the Montreal net

Jan Rutta penalized for cross-checking Artturi Lehkonen

Barclay Goodrow skates the puck out of the zone

Blake Coleman tip-in attempt saved by Price

Ryan McDonagh keeps the puck in the Canadiens end

Anthony Cirelli clears the puck out of the zone

Erik Cernak penalized for interference, Corey Perry for embellishment

Josh Anderson penalized for hooking Coleman, who would have had a breakaway

We’ll have a brief 4-on-4 before the Lightning go on the power play

Victor Hedman shot from above the left circle stopped by Price

Canadiens kill the penalty. Lightning 0-for-2

Goodrow backhand shot from above the goal line saved by Price

Ben Chiarot shot from the left point turned aside

Vasilevskiy saves redirection off Point’s skate after Weber shot from right point

Wide-open Johnson hits the crossbar from the left circle after a nice cross-ice feed from Joseph

Cernak bad-angle shot turned away by Price

Maroon tries to put the puck in front of the net, but Perry skates it out of harm’s way

Lightning outshooting Canadiens 12-4

Palat shot off the rush from the top of the right circle saved by Price after being tipped by a Montreal defenseman

Joseph spin-around shot from the right circle wide of the net

Lightning outshoot Canadiens 13-4 in the period

(No score after one period)

Pregame scouting report

Has it ever been done before? Three major sports championships in a 10-month span?

Unlikely.

But Tampa Bay has a chance to do it tonight.

Beat the Montreal Canadiens in Game 5 at Amalie Arena, and the Lightning will repeat as Stanley Cup champions, following their championship-series victory over the Dallas Stars in September. Add the Bucs’ Super Bowl 55 title in February, and the region could end the night celebrating its third major sports championship in less than a year. (No, Rowdies, we haven’t forgotten about you.)

After squandering a chance to sweep the series by losing Game 4 in overtime Monday in Montreal, the Lightning can clinch tonight on home ice.

Though it held a sizable advantage in almost every statistical category in the 3-2 loss, Tampa Bay went 0-for-5 on the power play, including a four-minute double-minor late in regulation that carried into overtime, and hit three posts. Nikita Kucherov had a chance to win in the final minutes of regulation after receiving a Ryan McDonagh pass at the edge of the crease, but his shot off the toe of his stick clanged off the near post.

In addition to the chance to clinch at home tonight, there is the slim possibility second-line forward Alex Killorn, who missed the past three games after being injured blocking a shot in Game 1, could be back on the ice. But it is unlikely, as head coach Jon Cooper described Killorn, who skated with the team before Game 4, “doubtful” following this morning’s skate.

If Tampa Bay wins, we’ll also find out whether Kucherov, Andrei Vasilevskiy or Brayden Point, the most likely candidates, follows in the footsteps of Lightning luminaries Brad Richards (2004) and Victor Hedman (2020) by taking home the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

Follow along, starting at 8 p.m., as the Lightning hope to hoist the Stanley Cup for a second consecutive season and add to the most memorable (less than a) year in Tampa Bay sports history.

Gameday scene

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