The Tampa Bay Lightning have taken the difficult route to reach the Eastern Conference Final.
Why would advancing to the Stanley Cup Final be any different?
The Lightning certainly could have made things easy on themselves by playing a full 60 minutes in Game 6. The Bolts had the support of their home crowd behind them, 19,000-strong ready to celebrate their triumphs and revel in the Penguins’ failures.
But after a Jonathan Drouin goal was disallowed for being an inch offside, the Lightning’s quick start dissipated, and Pittsburgh took control and wouldn’t relinquish until three goals were on the board and 40 minutes gone from the clock.