Two weeks ago President Joe Biden accepted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s offer to a wager on the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup finals between the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning.
The bet began on June 28th when Trudeau tweeted to Biden suggesting a “friendly wager” on the Canadiens-Lightning series.
Two of the best teams in the NHL are facing off right now… how about a friendly wager, @POTUS? #GoHabsGo 🇨🇦🇺🇸 #StanleyCup
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) June 29, 2021
Joe Biden who was fresh off his meeting with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin at the White House quickly responded with a Tweet of his own.
You’re on pal. #GoBolts https://t.co/jOhA7IB2bE
— President Biden (@POTUS) June 29, 2021
The defending cup champion Lightning entered the series as a -550 favorite at sidelines.io sports website to repeat as Stanley Cup champions. While the Montreal Canadians, who have won a record 24 Stanley Cups in their 111-year history the underdogs. The series played out as follows:
Game #1: Lightning 5, Canadiens 1
The Lightning took the lead early in the first period on an Erik Cernak goal and made it 2-0 in the second period when Blake Coleman’s shot through traffic deflected off of Yanni Gourde and into the net.
Montreal cut the lead back to a goal on a Ben Chiarot one-timer however the Lightning regained their two-goal lead early in the third period when Nikita Kucherov’s bounced off Chiarot’s stick and past Carey Price into the net. Kucherov made the score 4-1 with his second goal soon after, and Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos sealed the victory with a powerplay goal in the final two minutes.
Game #2: Lightning 3, Canadiens 1
Tampa Bay again opened the scoring with Anthony Cirelli netting the first goal of the game in the second period. Montreal tied the score on a power-play when Nick Suzuki floated a backhand shot through traffic and past Andrei Vasilevskiy’s. Then with just 1.1 seconds left in the second period, a Lightning two-on-one resulted in a Blake Coleman horn-beating goal to give the Lightning the lead again.
In the third period, an errant pass off the boards by Montreal defenseman Joel Edmundson allowed Ondrej Palat to score and the Lightning held on to win 3-1.
Game #3: Lightning 6, Canadiens 3
With the series moving to Montreal, the Lightning again jumped to an early lead. A point shot by defenseman Jan Rutta found the back of the net, and that was followed by a power-play goal Victor Hedman giving Tampa Bay a 2-0 lead.
A Phillip Danault wrist shot off both posts and past Vasilevskiy got Montreal within one goal before the end of the first period, but the Lightning scored two quick goals in the first four minutes of the second period to go up 4-1. Montreal then scored to cut their deficit to two, before the start of the third period.
It stayed a two-goal game until the final 5-minutes when Canadien defenceman Erik Gustafsson coughed up the puck to Tyler Johnson who scored his second goal of the game increasing the lead to 5-1. The Canadiens rebounded after pulling their goalie but the Lightning eventually took advantage scoring their 6th goal and winning by a final score of 6-3.
Game #4: Canadiens 1, Lightning 2 (OT)
Up against a possible series sweep, Josh Anderson scored first and the Canadiens took their first lead in the series. Goodrow tied the game for Tampa Bay in the second beating a sliding Price to the open side of the net.
The game remained tied until Alexander Romanov’s wrist shot from the blue line found the twine to make it 2–1 for Montreal. The Lightning would tie the game less than five minutes later when Patrick Maroon took advantage of a defensive breakdown and scored on a 2 on 1. With the game tied after the third period, both teams headed to overtime.
In overtime, the Canadiens killed a double-minor high sticking penalty by Shea Weber and ended the game a minute later when Anderson put the puck past Vasilevskiy.
Game #5: Lightning 1, Canadiens 0
Tampa Bay opened the game by dominating play, but neither team scored in the first period. In the second period, Tampa Bay scored the opening goal for the 4th time in 5 games Ryan McDonagh set up a David Savard shot that was tipped in past Carey Price by Ross Colton. It would prove to be the only goal of the contest, the game, and cup clincher as the Lightning held on to their one-goal lead throughout the third period.
The series played out much as the oddsmakers predicted, with Tampa Bay dominating most of the play and winning the series in 5-games. What hasn’t been made clear is what was wagered, and if the bet has been paid up.