2020 Tampa Bay Lightning Stanley Cup Championship Ring

The 2020 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2019-20 season and the culmination of the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs. This series was between the Eastern Conference champion Tampa Bay Lightning and the Western Conference champion Dallas Stars. The Lightning won the best-of-seven series, four games to two, for their second championship in franchise history. The Lightning had home-ice advantage in the series with the better regular season record. The series began on September 19 and concluded on September 28. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire series was played behind closed doors at Rogers Place in Edmonton. The pandemic resulted in the league suspending the regular season on March 12, 2020, and then scheduling a special 24-team playoff format to be held in two neutral "hub cities" (Edmonton and Toronto) that began on August 1.

This was the first Stanley Cup Finals series since 1925 to be played entirely outside the Eastern Time Zone, the first since 1928 to be played entirely in one location, the first since 1989 to be played entirely in Canada, and the first since 2011 to have the Stanley Cup awarded in a Canadian arena. This was the first Stanley Cup Finals since 1950 to feature a neutral site game and the first Stanley Cup Finals to feature two teams from the American Sun Belt (Texas and Florida). As a result of the pandemic, it was the first Stanley Cup Finals to be played in the month of September. This was the first Stanley Cup Finals since 2002 in which the losing team did not win a home game.

The Dallas Stars set the record for most playoff games played by a team in a single postseason at 27 games.

This was the Tampa Bay Lightning's third appearance in the Finals. They won the Stanley Cup in 2004 before losing the Finals in 2015.

During the offseason, Tampa Bay signed goaltender Curtis McElhinney, defencemen Luke Schenn, Luke Witkowski, and Kevin Shattenkirk, and forward Patrick Maroon during free agency. Tampa Bay also re-signed goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy and forwards Cedric Paquette and Brayden Point. During the regular season, the Lightning traded for forwards Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow. They also signed Zach Bogosian whose contract had been terminated by the Buffalo Sabres during the season. During Phase 2 of the Return to Play plan, captain Steven Stamkos injured himself while skating, and subsequently missed the round robin and the first three rounds of the playoffs for the Lightning.

When the regular season was suspended on March 12, the Lightning had a 42-21-6 record and a .657 points percentage to finish second in both the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference. After play resumed in the hubs, Tampa Bay placed second in the Round Robin. The Lightning then defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets in the First Round, including winning game one of the series that became the fourth longest game in NHL history, and the Boston Bruins in the Second Round in five games respectively. The Lightning then eliminated the New York Islanders in the Eastern Conference Finals in six games.