Corey Perry

It's hard to feel too bad for the Lightning and their fans after Tampa Bay came up short in its quest for a three-peat when the Avalanche earned the right ...

— xavier (@dicnowder)June 27, 2022 Based on recent history, signing with the Lightning seemed like a pretty good bet. Does the loss still sting?

Losing three straight Stanley Cup Finals kinda puts it on you.

But as the Ducks learned, counting on Perry when it mattered was the best way to hand up with nothing but a handful of yourself. Perry has lost three straight Cup Finals, with three different teams, as he more nakedly ring-chases than Karl Malone. He’s put in all that time, all that work, and three seasons in a row he’s had to stand there and watch someone else celebrate. You can see their entire being deflate behind their eyes for even trying to take a pro-Perry position, even the theory of one, for just a matter of seconds. His vacant face trying to hide the thousands of punches to the back of someone’s head, or the spears to the gut during scrums, or the hits from behind, or whatever other misdeed he could think of as long as it was behind an official’s back and his opponents weren’t looking. Maybe you can find a Stars or Canadiens or Lightning fan that barely stomached his presence for a season and will try to convince you while really trying to convince themselves, “Oh, I get it now. Oh sure, if you can find a Ducks fan in the wild (and I doubt you can), they’ll tell you he’s an Orange County hero, a phrase that tells you everything you need to know about a person and place.

So close, yet so far. Former Dallas Stars forward Corey Perry, a current member of the Tampa Bay Lightning, returned to the Stanley Cup Final this year for.

Once a villain to Stars fans during his career in Anaheim, Perry became a key member of the 2019-20 Dallas club that reached the Stanley Cup Final in the Edmonton bubble. Luckily, for the sake of his entire career, Perry did already notch a Stanley Cup win with the Ducks in 2006-07. Former Dallas Stars forward Corey Perry, a current member of the Tampa Bay Lightning, returned to the Stanley Cup Final this year for the third straight season ... only to lose the Stanley Cup Final for the third straight season after Tampa Bay fell to the Colorado Avalanche in Game 6 on Sunday night.