WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th April, 2022) US President Joe Biden on Monday hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team at the White House on Monday to celebrate the team's back-to-back Stanley Cup championship wins in the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
Biden delivered a speech celebrating and honoring the team's accomplishment, during which he noted that the team is one of only eight in the last century to win the Stanley Cup two seasons in a row.
The Lightning championship roster in 2020 and 2021 featured four Russian players, including goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, and forwards Nikita Kucherov and Alexander Volkov.
Kucherov and Vasilievsky, who were awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the league's most valuable post-season performers in the 2020 and 2021 playoffs, respectively, along with Sergachev remain on the team's roster for the ongoing 2022 season.
The Lightning defeated the Dallas stars in six games to win the Stanley Cup in 2020 and retained the cup a year later winning four out of five games against the Montreal Canadiens in 2021.
The Lightning have clinched a playoff bid for the upcoming Stanley Cup Playoffs and are projected to begin their latest title defense against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round.
