STANLEY CUP FINAL

The Florida Panthers returned home this week after losing in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday

The Florida Panthers spoke with the media Saturday just hours before the team will face off against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Dedicated fans of the Florida Panthers have made the long trip from South Florida to Las Vegas to see their team in the Stanley Cup Final.

Florida Panthers fans were out in full force in Las Vegas Saturday as the team gets ready to take on the Golden Knights in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis has made a friendly wager with his Las Vegas counterpart before the start of the Stanley Cup Final.

The NBA Finals could’ve featured glamour teams like the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers.

If this is Ondrej Palat's final playoff run with the Tampa Bay Lightning, he's certainly making it count.

The Colorado Avalanche face their biggest task yet in the Stanley Cup Final looking to close out the back-to-back defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 on the road.

The Colorado Avalanche were stymied in their quest to close out the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final on Friday night.

The Tampa Bay Lightning spoiled Colorado’s party and they are still in the hunt for a third straight Stanley Cup title after beating the Avalanche 3-2 in Game 5.

Colorado not only failed to take a stranglehold in the Stanley Cup Final after a 6-2 loss to Tampa Bay in Game 3 but also wound up with goaltending questions.

Steven Stamkos, Pat Maroon and Ondrej Palat each had a goal and an assist, and the Tampa Bay Lightning scored four times in the second period and beat the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.

It’s no secret Tampa Bay has played more hockey over the past two years than any other team in the NHL.

The fast-flying Colorado Avalanche have zoomed out to a 2-0 series lead over Tampa Bay in the Stanley Cup Final.

The Tampa Bay Lightning shrugged off their overtime loss to Colorado in the opener of the Stanley Cup Final.

The Colorado Avalanche overwhelmed the Tampa Bay Lightning 7-0 in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Colorado Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon has upped his game by dialing it down.

The Tampa Bay Lightning say they are unfazed after losing Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Colorado Avalanche.

The Colorado Avalanche are expected to stick with goaltender Darcy Kuemper in goal for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final.

For much of the game it looked as if the Colorado Avalanche and not the Tampa Bay Lightning were the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions.

Andre Burakovsky scored 1:23 into overtime and the Colorado Avalanche opened the Stanley Cup Final with a 4-3 victory over the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday night.

At 32 and wrapping up his 14th season, Steven Stamkos is no longer one of the NHL’s most prolific scorers or even the second- or third-best player on his own team.

The Tampa Bay Lightning know what type of effort it will take to finish off the New York Rangers.

The New York Rangers were on the brink of elimination when they came back from Pittsburgh earlier in the week after two bad losses on the road.

Playoff scoring leader Nikita Kucherov had two goals and an assist and Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 18 saves to outplay Carey Price and lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 5-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.

The Montreal Canadiens have finally earned respect during a remarkable playoff run that has them in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 28 years.

The Stars' return comes after 17 players tested positive for COVID-19, even though most were asymptomatic. Their first four scheduled games, all on the road and including an early Stanley Cup Final rematch with Tampa Bay, were postponed. “Right now, listen, we're all ready for a game,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said after practice Thursday at their home arena. Now the Stars are the last team to open the NHL's 56-game, division-only regular season. About 5,000 fans will be allowed for Stars games, well below the hockey capacity of 18,532, though the NBA's Dallas Mavericks are playing their home games there without fans.

FRISCO, Texas – The Dallas Stars have officially removed the interim tag from Rick Bowness, the coach who led them to the Stanley Cup Final. The 65-year-old Bowness is the Stars' 24th head coach, their ninth since moving to Dallas in 1993. The Stars made it to their first Stanley Cup Final since 2000. Bowness was the head coach previously in Winnipeg (1988-89), Boston (1991-92), Ottawa (1992-96), the New York Islanders (1996-98) and Phoenix (2003-04). He was also a long-time assistant, and was on Tampa Bay's staff in 2015 when the Lightning lost in the Stanley Cup Final before joining the Stars.

FILE - In this June 15, 2015, file photo, Chicago Blackhawks' goalie Corey Crawford kisses the Stanley Cup Trophy after defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final series in Chicago. The past few weeks have seen several recent Stanley Cup winners get rid of members of their championship core. The Blackhawks moved on from Corey Crawford, the Washington Capitals did the same with Braden Holtby, the Pittsburgh Penguins traded fellow goalie Matt Murray and forward Patric Hornqvist and the St. Louis Blues signing Torey Krug means captain Alex Pietrangelo will sign elsewhere. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

FILE - In this June 15, 2015, file photo, Chicago Blackhawks' goalie Corey Crawford kisses the Stanley Cup Trophy after defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final series in Chicago. The past few weeks have seen several recent Stanley Cup winners get rid of members of their championship core. Hornqvist was “blindsided” the Pittsburgh Penguins wanted to trade him. The past several weeks have featured several recent Stanley Cup winners breaking up their championship core by saying goodbye to a key player with his name on the trophy. The agitating, go-to-the-net winger helped Pittsburgh win the Cup in 2016 and 2017.

After consecutive games with three-goal periods, Tampa Bay has all of the momentum and a 2-1 series lead. Dallas' top line is without a goal against Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay then went ahead in Game 3 with two goals in an 85-second span before three goals in the second period of a 5-2 win. The NHL is playing Stanley Cup Final games on back-to-back nights for the first time since 2009, when Detroit won each of the first two games against Pittsburgh, which eventually won the series in seven games. In its only back-to-back this postseason, Tampa Bay won Games 2 and 3 in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs against Boston.

(AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:___The Miami Dolphins are turning their field into a drive-in theatre. ___Oklahoma will re-open its facilities for voluntary football workouts on July 1 about two weeks later than the Big 12 Conference has allowed. Counsell and Attanasio both noted that the shortened schedule would make it more important than ever for teams to keep their players healthy. There is still no timetable for the resumption of game action or when players can return to team facilities for voluntary workouts. Murphys office, the league and our medical staff to establish prudent, health and safety measures for our staff and players.