When Tampa was awarded an NHL franchise in 1991, the team's management brought in star power before they had any players. They hired 1970s Boston Bruins star Phil Esposito (Lightning founder) to be the general manager, his brother Tony as chief scout and Terry Crisp, who played for the Philadelphia Flyers when they won two Stanley Cups in the mid-1970s, and coached the Calgary Flames to a Stanley Cup in 1989, to stand behind the bench.
The Lightning first took the ice on October 7, 1992, shocking the visiting Chicago Blackhawks 7-3 with four goals by little-known Chris Kontos--a scoring mark as yet unmatched by any Lightning player. The Lightning shot to the top of the Norris Division within a month before faltering to finish in last place. Their 53 points in 1992-93, however, is one of the best showings ever by an NHL expansion team, and Brian Bradley's 42 goals gave Tampa Bay fans optimism for the next season.
The following season was an improvement, as the team picked up goalie Darren Puppa, left-wing goal scorer Petr Klima and aging sniper Denis Savard. While Puppa's play resulted in a significant improvement in goals allowed, Savard's best days were long past, Klima's scoring was offset by his defensive lapses, and the Lightning finished in last place.
In their fourth season, 1996-97, with Bradley still leading the team in scoring, second-year Alexander Selivanov scoring 31 goals, and Roman Hamrlik (the team's first-ever draft choice in 1992) having an all-star year on defense, they made the playoffs for the first time. Although they lost the first-round series to the Flyers, it still remains a magical season for Lightning fans (and the attendance of 28,183 on April 23 was the most for any NHL game until the Heritage Classic — a game played outdoors in Edmonton, Alberta in 2003).
The Lightning picked up sniper Dino Ciccarelli from the Detroit Red Wings that off-season, and he would not disappoint, scoring 35 goals (in addition to 30 from Chris Gratton). The Lightning appeared destined for another playoff spot until Puppa and Bradley were injured and center John Cullen came down with cancer. Cullen survived, but the Lightning would barely miss the playoffs in 1997.
After their breakout season, the Lightning finished the 2003-04 season atop the Eastern Conference standings with a franchise record 106 points. In the first round of the playoffs, as the top seed, the Lightning ousted the New York Islanders, a team many had picked to upset the Eastern Conference winners, as the Islanders had given the Lightning much trouble in the past. However, this was not to be so, and with solid play from goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, the Lightning went on to win the series by a convincing 4-1 margin. In the second round, the Lightning faced the Montreal Canadiens, the most successful NHL franchise ever. However, with at times jaw-dropping play from Lecavalier, playoff MVP Brad Richards, and once again, Khabibulin, the Lightning were able to sweep the Canadiens in 4 straight games. They faced the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference finals, winning in a back-and-forth seven-game series in which neither team was able to win consecutive games, earning the Lightning their first-ever spot in the Stanley Cup finals. There they defeated the Calgary Flames 4 games to 3 to win their first Stanley Cup on June 7, 2004. Brad Richards, who had 26 points, won the Conn Smythe Trophy; in all 31 contests in which he had scored a goal since the opening of the season, the Lightning did not lose a single game. But a few months after that, the Lightning had absolutely nothing to celebrate: the NHL, because of a labor dispute, would enter a season-canceling lockout.
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