updated 2:19 a.m. ET June 8, 2004

TAMPA, Fla. - Brad Richards can finally forget about last year’s playoffs.

The Tampa Bay Lightning forward had a miserable introduction to the postseason in 2003, but he bounced back in record-setting fashion the second time around to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoffs MVP on Monday night.

Richards assisted on the first of Ruslan Fedotenko’s two goals, giving him a playoff-best 26 points and sending the Lightning on their way to a 2-1 victory in Game 7 and the franchise’s first Stanley Cup.

When he picked up the Smythe Trophy, he did a partial spin near center ice.

“It’s unbelievable, I can’t really explain it,” he said. “I know it’s a cliche, but we wanted to win the Cup and that was the main goal. That’s a bonus.”

Richards finished the playoffs with 12 goals, including an NHL-record seven game-winners. The MVP award capped off a perfect night at the end of a perfect season for Richards and the champion Lightning.

Free video Richards reflects Lightning forward and Conn Smythe winner Brad Richards says the finals couldn't have been any closer NHL Productions

Tampa Bay went 31-0-2 this season, including 9-0 in the playoffs, when the 24-year-old center notched a goal. The Lightning didn’t get a chance to test that out in the postseason last year as Richards had only five assists in 11 playoff games.

No one is complaining now about Richards, a third-round pick of the Lightning in the 1998 draft.

Richards made Monday night’s deciding game necessary by scoring two power-play goals two nights earlier in Calgary when the Lightning faced elimination. He didn’t let up with the Stanley Cup on the line and many friends and family members in attendance.

“I have the greatest family in the world,” Richards said. “They all flew in today and that makes it even more special that they all could be here.”

Richards fired a shot that was kicked out by Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff, right to Fedotenko, who gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead with 6:29 left in the first period.

But it was his uncanny ability to score the goals that counted the most in Tampa Bay’s run to the Cup that had everyone talking about the guy from Prince Edward Island.

Everyone that is except Richards, who chalked up his winning touch to good fortune.

“When you are from a small place like that, there’s not many of us in the NHL,” Richards said. “I am so proud of where I’m from. They are behind me every day, every minute. This was for them.”

A trip home at Christmas really turned things around for Florida’s latest sports hero.

“It was an awful first half,” Richards said. “I think I had four goals, three goals, and thought the world was falling apart. I went home for the first time in six or seven years at Christmas.

“It made me realize how fortunate I am to be in the NHL and just go have fun with it.”

Richards started his winning ways in Game 3 of the first round against the New York Islanders. He then netted the deciding goals in Games 3 and 4 of the second-round sweep of Montreal and Games 1 and 5 versus Philadelphia in the Lightning’s first trip to the conference finals.

He tied Joe Sakic’s record of six winning goals in the Lightning’s 4-1 victory in Game 2. He broke the mark two games later in a 1-0 win at Calgary.

Richards scored 21 goals in his rookie season of 2000-01 and followed that with a 20-goal campaign. He dropped to 17 goals last season before rebounding to score 26 goals this season and setting up 53 others for the Lightning.

After years of being an NHL afterthought, the Lightning have grown into a powerhouse, winning two straight Southeast Division titles and earning the top seed in the Eastern Conference this season.

“We’ve been playing together since we were 14 years old,” teammate Vincent Lecavalier said of Richards. “We came here, both of us, and we were in last place for four years, three years. Now we are winning, so it’s unbelievable. It’s great.”

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