updated 10:42 p.m. ET June 16, 2004

TAMPA, Fla. - The Tampa Bay Lightning became one of the most unlikely Stanley Cup winners ever and kept the Calgary Flames from an even more improbable championship.

How they did it was no surprise at all.

Ruslan Fedotenko scored twice, including the critical first goal just as he did in the conference finals, and the resilient Lightning held off the Calgary Flames 2-1 in Game 7 Monday night to win their first Stanley Cup.

The Lightning did it with a very reliable formula in so big a game: Getting exceptional efforts from their best players and a big night from their goalie.

The Flames, threatening to become one of the most unexpected champions in NHL history, were held to only seven shots in a dismal first two periods before making a frantic late surge started by Craig Conroy’s power-play goal midway through the third.

“We just tried to get through it, and we found a way,” Lightning coach John Tortorella said. “It’s unbelievable. It’s a great feeling.”

Now the question is how long the Lightning will rule after winning the Stanley Cup in only their 12th season. The NHL’s labor agreement runs out Sept. 15, and all signs point to a lengthy lockout that will significantly delay or shut down the 2004-05 season.

Free video At long last After playing an NHL record 1,597 regular season games without winning the Stanley Cup, Lightning captain Dave Andreychuk describes what it was lift the prize for the first time NHL Productions

“We’re going to walk forever together (as champions), no matter what happens from now on,” Martin St. Louis said.

Tortorella insisted throughout the finals his team would win only if his best players outplayed Calgary’s, and they did exactly that.

Fedotenko scored on goals created by Conn Smythe Award winner Brad Richards and Vincent Lecavalier and goalie Nikolai Khabibulin held off Calgary’s late flurry while stopping 16 shots, including a remarkable save on Jordan Leopold when the net appeared wide open.

“We knew they were going to surge sooner or later, and Nik was great,” Tortorella said.

The Flames’ Jarome Iginla, the impact player of the first five games, all but disappeared in the final two, going the last six periods without a shot. Iginla scored a playoff-leading 13 goals, but had only one in the final four games.

“It’s the toughest loss by a thousand times,” said Iginla, who couldn’t deliver Canada’s first Cup champion in its national sport since the 1993 Canadiens. “It’s a very good season and I’m so proud of everybody but that hurts more than anything else I’ve been a part of.”

Free video Unlikely run by Lightning Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella talks about what it took for his team to win the Stanley Cup NHL Productions

Tampa Bay, an expansion franchise in 1992 and one of the league’s worst teams for much of the time since, joined the 2001 Avalanche as the only teams to overcome a 3-2 deficit in the finals in 33 years.

Maybe it’s only coincidence, but in each series a 22-season veteran who had never won the Cup finally did so. Colorado’s Ray Bourque did it in 2001, and 40-year-old Lightning captain Dave Andreychuk finally lifted the Stanley Cup after playing a record 1,597 regular season games before Monday without winning it.

Bourque called the Lightning’s Tim Taylor on Saturday to offer advice in overcoming the 3-2 disadvantage, and he also offered encouragement to Andreychuk.

“It’s awesome,” Andreychuk said. “It took me 29 years (of hockey) to get here, and I’m so proud of our guys because we got a Game 7 at home because we worked hard all year long.”

Brian Bahr / Getty Images Ruslan Fedotenko of the Lightning celebrates his first-period goal against the Flames on Monday in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. Fedontenko also scored in the second period.

Tampa Bay didn’t reach even the second round of the playoffs until last season, then overcame a midseason slump this season before peaking at the right time. After starting 7-0-1, they lost seven of nine and were only 15-14-6-1 at Christmas time.

Now, Lightning owner Bill Davidson can pull off a previously unseen single-season sweep of the NBA and NHL titles. His Detroit Pistons lead the Lakers 1-0 in the NBA Finals.

“I still can’t believe how quickly it happened for us,” Tortorella said. “To do this in three years (since his hiring), that wasn’t in the plan.”

The Flames, going for a 11th road victory in 14 playoff games, were convinced that failing to close out the finals Saturday in hockey-obsessed Calgary wouldn’t cost them the Cup, since the home team had won only twice in the series. But home ice did matter — just as it usually does in Game 7.

Home teams are 11-2 in finals Game 7s and 10-1 since 1950, with only the 1971 Montreal Canadiens winning on the road in the last 54 years.

Once again, there’s no place like home ice in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. And the Stanley Cup still can’t find its way back home to Canada.

The team scoring first won every game in the series, so Tampa Bay got a huge confidence boost when Fedotenko scored on a power play 13:31 into the first — much like he scored the go-ahead goal in a 2-1 victory over Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference finals.

Richards’ shot from the point was kicked away by Miikka Kiprusoff to Fedotenko in the slot, and he lined a shot past the goalie, who stopped 13 of 15 shots.

That goal was one of several uncharacteristic Calgary defensive breakdowns as the Lightning forced the play from the start, limiting the Flames to only three shots in the first period and four in the second.

Robyn Regehr, Calgary’s most dependable defenseman, played despite apparently injuring an ankle or foot in Game 6 and was on the ice for Fedotenko’s goal. Flames RW Shean Donovan missed his second straight game with an undisclosed leg injury.

“In the end, they just had more legs than we did. We were beaten by a great team,” Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. “I thought our guys played great.”

Fedotenko’s second of the game and third of the finals was created by a dazzling bit of stickhandling by Lecavalier, who hadn’t figured in any scoring since Game 2. Lecavalier took Cory Stillman’s pass in the left corner, spun around to shed Steve Montador and another defender and put a perfect pass on Fedotenko’s stick in the slot with about 5½ minutes left in the second period.

Notes: The Lightning missed the playoffs for six straight seasons before making them last season. ... The Flames would have been the first Stanley Cup champion with a losing home record (5-7). ... The 1995 Devils remain the only team to win the Cup without having home-ice advantage in a four-round playoffs. Sixth-seeded Calgary could have been the second. The Flames also failed to become the first team to eliminate four division champions. ... No Stanley Cup finals Game 7 has gone to overtime since 1954. ... The team scoring first won each of Calgary’s last 16 games. ... Tampa Bay is 14-2 when scoring first. ... The Flames tied a record by playing their 26th playoff game. ... Khabibulin is the first Russian-born goalie to win the Cup. ... The Lightning also ended their record 13-game streak of alternating winning and losing.

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