Shirtless Nikita Kucherov steals the show after Lightning's Stanley Cup clincher

TAMPA, Florida — To say that Nikita Kucherov went off the rails in his postgame Zoom press conference would imply that he was at one point on the rails. 

The train never got onto the track to begin with. 

The Tampa Bay Lightning won their second-straight Stanley Cup on Thursday night at Amalie Arena with a 1-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens in Game 5. Since we are still in the era of Zoom press conferences, Vasilevskiy was allowed to be at a table with nothing other than a mic and a camera by himself. Well, and a Bud Light too. 

It’s not an ideal setup. In fact, it’s been downright awful for the last 15 months. 

These interviews elicit little emotion or insight without the human interaction element.  

But when Kucherov took that stage, it was good.