Tampa Bay Lightning Looking to Join The List

Published on May 2nd, 2022 5:04 pm EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


In the 2021-22 NHL playoffs, the Tampa Bay Lightning will be looking to join some very exclusive company when they seek to win their third straight Stanley Cup.

In the modern NHL, with its salary cap and parity, winning three Stanley Cups in a row is practically impossible. Every time that reaches the playoffs is a very good team, and good players will need to be re-signed to new deals, which usually leads to teams needing to make tough decisions to stay under the cap.

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A number of teams have managed to win three Stanley Cups in a row in the "Stanley Cup Finals" era (1915+)

The last team to accomplish the task was the New York Islanders, who won FOUR Stanley Cups in a row between the 1979-80 and 1982-83 seasons.

Directly prior to that run, the Montreal Canadiens won four Stanley Cups in a row, as they dominated the league between the 1975-76 and 1978-79. Over the course of eight years in the NHL, just two teams won eight Stanley Cups.

The Toronto Maple Leafs won three Stanley Cups in a row, ranging from 1961-62 to 1963-64. A few years later, the Leafs won another Cup, and they have not won since.

The Montreal Canadiens won FIVE Stanley Cups in a row between the 1955-56 and 1959-60 seasons, and these teams were considered some of the greatest of all time.

The final team to win three Stanley Cups in a row was the Toronto Maple Leafs (again), as they dominated the post-WWII era, taking down three Cups between 1946-47 and 1948-49.

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Just three separate teams - the New York Islanders, Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens - have won the Stanley Cup three times in a row, with Montreal and Toronto accomplishing the task twice.

It was much easier to accomplish this task back when there were only a handful of teams in the NHL and no salary cap. Now, the task is practically impossible, though the Tampa Bay Lightning have a chance to pull off the feat in the 2021-22 season.