The Tampa Bay Lightning were one of the best teams in NHL history during the regular season, and their hopes of capping off the year with a Stanley Cup are somehow already dead. Team captain Steven Stamkos is as disappointed about that as anyone.
After the Columbus Blue Jackets completed a four-game sweep with a 7-3 win over the Lightning on Tuesday night, Stamkos was blunt in his assessment of Tampa’s 2018-19 season. He called it a “failure.”
Steven Stamkos: “If you don’t accomplish the goal of winning it all, it’s a failure."
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) April 17, 2019
The Lightning won 62 games during the regular season, which tied an NHL record and had most people thinking no one in the Eastern Conference would be able to stop them. Instead, they were embarrassed and left to apologize to their fans for falling historically short of expectations.
It goes without saying that the East is now wide open with the President’s Trophy winner out of the picture, and the Blue Jackets have to be feeling like they have a shot to reach the Stanley Cup Finals. If the way they trolled the Lightning is any indication, they are as confident as ever.
