2020 Stanley Cup Final

Paths to the Final

The NHL paused the 2019–20 season on March 12, 2020, one day after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic and the NBA suspended its season. On May 22, the league and NHLPA agreed on a framework for a 24-team playoff tournament behind closed doors in two neutral hub cities. The plan was announced publicly on May 26, with seeds based on points percentage when the season paused. The top four teams in each conference played a seeding round-robin, while the eight lower-seeded teams per conference competed in a best-of-five qualifying round.

The first round through the Final remained best-of-seven. On July 10, the NHL and NHLPA ratified an extension to the collective bargaining agreement and formally set the playoffs to begin August 1, with Edmonton hosting Western Conference early rounds, the conference finals, and the Stanley Cup Final, and Toronto hosting Eastern Conference early rounds. U.S. cities were considered but passed over after several states saw a spike in COVID-19 cases in late June.

The Dallas Stars made their fifth franchise Final appearance, having won the Stanley Cup in 1999 and lost in 2000, with two earlier appearances as the Minnesota North Stars in 1981 and 1991. During the offseason, Dallas signed forwards Corey Perry and Joe Pavelski and defenceman Andrej Sekera in free agency, and re-signed defenceman Taylor Fedun and forward Jason Dickinson. On December 10, 2019, head coach Jim Montgomery was dismissed for unprofessional conduct and replaced by Rick Bowness, who had served as associate coach with the Lightning from 2013 to 2018.

Game summaries

In game one, the Stars took a 1–0 lead on a goal by defenceman Joel Hanley from Roope Hintz. Tampa Bay tied the score on a skate deflection by Yanni Gourde. In the third period, the Stars played defensively, holding off 22 Lightning shots, and Jason Dickinson added an empty-net goal for a 4–1 Dallas win. In game two, the Lightning scored three times in the first period.

Brayden Point converted a tic-tac-toe pass from Victor Hedman and Nikita Kucherov on the power play, Ondrej Palat made it 2–0 on another Kucherov feed, and Kevin Shattenkirk's shot deflected off Esa Lindell for a 3–0 lead. In the second period, the Stars cut the lead to 3–1 when John Klingberg's shot deflected off Joe Pavelski on the power play. A hit on Blake Comeau sparked a skirmish, resulting in roughing penalties for Corey Perry, Klingberg, Cedric Paquette, and Hedman. In the third period, Mattias Janmark's shot made it 3–2, but the Lightning held on to win 3–2 and tie the series 1–1.

Stanley Cup engraving

After Tampa Bay’s 2-0 game six victory, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman handed the Stanley Cup to Lightning captain Steven Stamkos. The shortened season allowed Braydon Coburn and Mathieu Joseph, both healthy scratches throughout the Final, to have their names engraved despite playing fewer games than usual. Coburn appeared in 40 regular-season and three playoff games, while Joseph played 37 regular-season games but none in the playoffs. Patrick Maroon became just the third player since 1967-68 to win consecutive Cups with different teams, following his 2019 title with St. Louis. His name was engraved as “Pat” in 2020, after being listed as “Patrick” the previous year.

Television and radio

In Canada, the series was broadcast by Sportsnet and CBC Television in English, and TVA Sports in French. In the United States, NBC aired games one, four, five, and six, while NBCSN aired games two and three. The NHL initially planned for commentators to call games remotely, but later allowed both Sportsnet and NBC commentators into the hubs. NBC lead play-by-play commentator Mike "Doc" Emrick, aged 74, called the Cup Final off monitors from his home studio in Metro Detroit due to COVID-19 risk; these were his final games before retiring on October 19, 2020. CBC/Sportsnet lead play-by-play commentator Jim Hughson, aged 63, also called his last Cup Final; he reduced his schedule the following season and retired in September 2021.