TB Lightning's Nikita Kucherov Gives Legendary Shirtless Press Conference After Stanley Cup Win

Wednesday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning clinched their second straight Stanley Cup title, defeating the Montreal Canadians 1-0 in Tampa to win the series four games to one.

After the win, Tampa's Russian right winger Nikita Kucherov took to the press conference platform, making a speech that will not be soon forgotten.

Here's Kucherov celebrating the win as the Lightning clinched their second cup in two years:








"I don't know what to say. F—ing. Back-to-back. I couldn't sleep for three nights, you know, and to be able to win this game is huge," Kucherov said.

The right winger went on to give props to goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs MVP.

"Vasy was outstanding. MVP. I was telling him every day: 'Vasy, you're MVP. You're the best player,' and then they give (the Vezina to) whatever the guy in Vegas division (Marc-Andre Fleury) and then last year they gave Vezina to somebody else (Connor Hellebuyck).

"No. 1 bulls—. No. 1 bulls—.

"Vasy took both Cups, you know, he took MVP and I was keep telling him he's an MVP. He's the guy that, f—ing he's the best. He stood on his head today. He kept us in the game and another shoutout by him. Remarkable. Can't even tell more."

In a world of memorable press conferences, Kucherov's post game rant will live on for a long time to come.











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Matt has been a part of the Cleveland Sports landscape working in the media since 1994 when he graduated from broadcasting school. His coverage beats include the Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Cavaliers. He's written three books, and won the "2020 AP Sports Stringer Lifetime Service Award."