NEW YORK - No matter which team emerged from the West, decided a dozen or so very wise reporters sitting in a Manhattan pub early Saturday morning, the Tampa Bay Lightning will be the longer than longshot underdogs in the Stanley Cup final.
They knocked off the Presidents’ Trophy winners, but against the Chicago Blackhawks or Anaheim Ducks, they’ll have no chance.
They’re too young. They’re too inexperienced. They’re too small. They’re too everything that says they don’t measure up.
They may steal a game, but they won’t win two. They’re just not there yet.
In other words, with a chance to prove people wrong again, the Lightning should win Lord Stanley’s mug in six, maybe seven.