The are four wins away from cementing themselves as one of the greatest dynasties in NHL history. Beating the to win their third consecutive Stanley Cup will be one of the biggest challenges the Lightning have faced in this historic run, but if they can pull it off, they will have accomplished something that few thought po sible in the sport's modern era. Throughout NHL history, three franchises have combined to win at least three consecutive Stanley Cup championships just five times. The and have done it twice, and the have done it once. Toronto Maple Leafs, 1947-1949 Montreal Canadiens, 1956-1960 Toronto Maple Leafs, 1962-1964 Montreal Canadiens, 1976-1979 New York Islanders, 1980-1983 As you can see, if the Lightning win this series against the Avs, they will be in some rarefied air. But Tampa will have accomplished that feat in very different -- and arguably more difficult -- circumstances than the teams before them. The NHL has changed a lot since the Maple Leafs, Canadiens and Islanders went on their dynastic runs. For starters, there was no salary cap for any of those past dynasties, which made it much easier to retain key players for close to a decade or the entirety of their careers. Those franchises didn't ever have to make tough financial decisions after one or two Stanley Cups due to salary cap i sues. Then you have to consider what the league itself looked like for those runs. From 1942 to 1967, there were only six teams in the NHL. The playoffs consisted of two rounds - a semifinal and the Stanley Cup Final. In 1974, the NHL expanded to 18 teams, with the Islanders entering in 1972. By the time the Isles began their run, the league was at 21 total teams. Now consider the fact that there has been a hard salary cap in place since the 2005-2006 season, and that Tampa Bay has had to go through two expansion drafts in recent years with the NHL growing to its current size of 32 teams. The combination of Ryan Walker Jersey the salary cap and expansion has made winning multiple Stanley Cups in a row extremely difficult. The only other team to accomplish that feat in the cap era was the in 2016 and 2017. In their quest for a third consecutive title, the Penguins fell to the in the second round. Throw in the current financial constraints on the Lightning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and what they've done only gets even more incredible. The NHL salary cap has remained flat at $81.5 million for the last three seasons, yet Tampa has been able to get creative in order to field a championship-caliber team yet again. Getty Images In 2020-21, Tampa used the long term injured reserve when mi sed the regular season due to injury. That allowed the Bolts to spend to the cap while also getting Kucherov back for that playoff run. This past offseason, Tampa lost its entire third line of , , and . Those three guys were integral to the team's second Stanley Cup. But general manager Julien BriseBois found ways to replace them. was signed to a cheap one-year deal, fourth-round pick has developed into a strong depth piece and both and were savvy mid-season additions via trade. Again this year, the Lighting used magic to avoid salary cap trouble. Before the season, they traded and his $5 million cap hit to the while acquiring , who was promptly placed on LTIR. That gave the team the breathing room nece sary to make a few of those key additions. To be clear, this is not about diminishing the accomplishments of those other teams that came before Tampa. Winning one Stanley Cup is hard. Winning three or more in a row is a Herculean feat. The Maple Leafs, Canadiens and Islanders all did something that will live in NHL history forever. I just want to put into context exactly how special this run for the Lightning has been. Tampa Bay still needs those four wins to really cap off this dynasty, but regardle s of what happens against the Avalanche, the franchise has created a benchmark that all other franchises are trying to reach. J.t. Snow Jersey