Jamie Nye: Another great Stanley Cup moment thanks to Steven Stamkos

In just under three minutes of hockey, Steven Stamkos wrote another legendary chapter in the history of the Stanley Cup final.

Stamkos hadn’t played in more than 200 days due to injury and, on his third shift of a game Wednesday night, he slipped by a defenceman and used his greatest weapon – his shot – to score on his first shot in his return as captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Stamkos didn’t finish the game and in fact didn’t even finish the first period. But you could see the spark the captain created during the warmup and in the first period, as a quick 2-0 lead allowed the Lightning to take control of the series.

Stamkos is someone to cheer for even if he doesn’t play again in the series. Snubbed for the Olympics 10 years ago, injured weeks before the 2014 Games, sidelined in 2016 due to blood clots with the Lightning as one of the favourites – let’s just say it has been a career full of injuries, letdowns and bad breaks.

Don’t look at his reaction to his goal. Look at his teammates. They were almost more thrilled about Stamkos scoring than he was.

Their captain was back and they’re hopeful that in a few days, his next big moment will be taking the Cup from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.