NHL not happy with Tampa Bay's Cup celebration

Winning the Stanley Cup is supposed to be a huge deal for the winning team and the city they represent. Partying in the streets is not at all uncommon when a team celebrates its win in its home city, and it was no different in Tampa over the last few days as the Lightning took to the cup around their town to celebrate with fans. However, according to TSN's Darren Dreger, the NHL feels some lines were crossed.

"I think we all saw the video evidence of the Tampa Bay Lightning celebrating like it's 2019," said Dreger on Insider Trading. "Not like it's 2020. The point is well made. On any other year, any other celebration involving the Stanley Cup Champion, the National Hockey League, as long as you keep it between the lines, is going to be ok with it. But I think from a health and safety perspective, I think we can all agree, this doesn't look very healthy or very safe in the world of a pandemic."

"The National Hockey League did reach out to the Tampa Bay Lightning to question some of that behaviour," Dreger added.

At one point, players had fans lined up to take sips out of the Cup. They had to know someone was going to question that move. There are also several video clips showing players and fans interacting without maintaining physical distancing and without wearing masks or having them pulled down.

The NHL had worked extremely hard to stage the playoffs inside bubbles in Edmonton and Toronto without having anyone test positive for COVID-19.

Source: TSN Insider Trading

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