Tampa Bay aims to recapture Stanley Cup glory against the same Canadiens team it defeated in 2021, fueled by a thunderous home crowd and Nikita Kucherov’s grit.<\/p>\n
TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Thousands of Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a> fans were locked in at Benchmark International Arena and outside at Thunder Alley for Game 1 of the opening playoff round tonight. The Lightning squaring off against the Montreal Canadiens \u2014 the same franchise Tampa Bay defeated to claim its back-to-back Stanley Cup championship in 2021.<\/p>\n The atmosphere both inside and just beyond the arena was electric, with the roar of the crowd audible for blocks.<\/p>\n Charles Rodriguez, a 13-year Army veteran who now lives in Riverview, remembers watching the 2021 championship run from a far less comfortable setting.<\/p>\n “In 2021, believe it or not, I was in Kuwait,” Rodriguez said. “So even in Kuwait in 100-degree weather and all this stuff, I had my little phone on me and I was watching the boys play. But even then that couldn’t stop us. We rooted for Tampa either way. I remember vividly being in Kuwait in the desert essentially and celebrating like I was just right here.”<\/p>\n Head coach Jon Cooper has pointed to home-ice advantage as a significant factor heading into the series, noting that Tampa Bay won 40 games in regulation during the regular season compared to Montreal’s 34.<\/p>\n Rodriguez summed up the fan culture simply.<\/p>\n “It’s literally a religion,” he said. “The hockey community is crazy.”<\/p>\n Forward Nikita Kucherov<\/a>, No. 86, turned in a standout performance in Game 1 and remained the most frequently cited favorite player among fans surveyed outside the arena.<\/p>\n “Nikita Kucherov,” said Thunder Alley faithful Brennen Madliozzi, when asked to name his favorite player.<\/p>\n For some attendees, it was their first game.<\/p>\n “Exciting, cool, very energetic,” said Tayliz Vazquez, who had never been to the Benchmark International Arena. “Everyone is just a vibe.”<\/p>\n Game 2 of the series is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday as a home game again for the Lightning. Tickets remain available through resale platforms, including SeatGeek<\/a> and StubHub<\/a>, with some of the cheaper options listed at approximately $100.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay aims to recapture Stanley Cup glory against the same Canadiens team it defeated in 2021, fueled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-238357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}