Editing Tampa Bay Lightning (section)

====Two dream seasons and first Stanley Cup championship (2002–2004)====
With a young core of players led by Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards, Martin St. Louis and [[Fredrik Modin]], the Lightning were thought to be very close to respectability. However, they arrived somewhat earlier than expected in [[2002–03 NHL season|2002–03]]. The young team was led by the goaltending of Nikolai Khabibulin and the scoring efforts of Lecavalier, St. Louis, Modin, Richards and [[Ruslan Fedotenko]]. Throughout the season, the Lightning battled the [[Washington Capitals]] for first place in the Southeast Division. They finished with a record of 36–25–16 for 93 points, breaking the 90-point barrier for the first time in team history. They won the division by just one point, giving them home-ice advantage in their first-round match-up with the Capitals. At season's end, coach Tortorella was recognized for his efforts by being named a finalist for the [[Jack Adams Award]], losing out to [[Jacques Lemaire]] of the [[Minnesota Wild]].

In the first round of the [[2003 Stanley Cup playoffs|playoffs]], the Lightning quickly fell two games behind in the series but followed the two losses with four consecutive wins for their first playoff series win in franchise history. However, in the semifinals, they went down in five games to the [[New Jersey Devils]], who went on to win the Stanley Cup.
The Lightning's dramatic improvement continued through the [[2003–04 NHL season|2003–04 regular season]], finishing with a record of 46–22–8–6 for 106 points, second-best in the NHL after the Western Conference's Detroit Red Wings—the first 100-point season in franchise history. The Lightning lost only 20 man-games to injury. In the first round of the playoffs, the Lightning ousted the [[New York Islanders]] in five games, with Khabibulin posting shutouts in games 1, 3, and 4.

In the second round, the Lightning faced the [[Montreal Canadiens]]; Lecavalier, Richards, and Khabibulin led the team to a four-game sweep of Montreal. Next, they faced the [[Philadelphia Flyers]] in the conference finals. After a tightly fought seven-game series in which neither team was able to win consecutive games, Fredrik Modin notched the winning goal of the seventh and deciding game, earning the Eastern Conference championship for the Lightning and their first-ever berth in the [[Stanley Cup]] Finals.

Their opponent in the final round was the [[Calgary Flames]]. The final round also went the full seven games, with the deciding game played in the St. Pete Times Forum on June 7, 2004. This time, Ruslan Fedotenko was the game 7 hero, scoring both Lightning goals in a 2–1 victory. Brad Richards, who had 26 points in the postseason, won the [[Conn Smythe Trophy]] as the most valuable player of the playoffs; the Lightning had won all 31 contests in which he had scored a goal since the opening of the season.<ref>{{cite news|title=Raising the Cup presents: Game 7 2004 Stanley Cup Final|url=https://www.nhl.com/news/raising-the-cup-presents-game-7-2004-stanley-cup-final/c-569846|website=NHL.com|date=August 16, 2011|access-date=June 25, 2019}}</ref> Tortorella won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's Coach of the Year. Only three years after their last of four consecutive seasons of 50 or more losses, and in only their 12th year of existence, the Lightning became the southernmost team ever to win the Stanley Cup, an accomplishment since surpassed by the [[Florida Panthers]]. Martin St. Louis led the team and the NHL with 94 points (his 38 goals were fourth-most after the 41 of tied trio Jarome Iginla, [[Rick Nash]] and [[Ilya Kovalchuk]]), and won the [[Hart Memorial Trophy]] as the NHL's most valuable player. St. Louis also won the [[Lester B. Pearson Award]] for the NHL's most outstanding player as voted by the [[National Hockey League Players' Association|NHL Players' Association]], and tied the [[Vancouver Canucks]]' [[Marek Malík|Marek Malik]] for the [[NHL Plus/Minus Award]]. A season of superlatives was capped with one final accolade, as ''[[The Sporting News]]'' named general manager Jay Feaster as the league's executive of the year for 2003–04.