TAMPA, Fla. — With the NHL Playoffs getting underway Monday, fans packed Sparkman Wharf downtown to cheer on the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Game one of the Bolts series against the Maple Leafs was away in Canada, but the fans were ready.
"What did I bring?! Come on! What kind of Tampa fan are you?! It's the Stanley Cup! I had to blow it up because this is a new one," Connor Penn said. "Last year we went to the parade and I lost it in the crowd."
Both the team and the fans are coming off the high of their second consecutive Stanley Cup win. They're taking memories from the boat parade into this year.
"I'm confident! Full of confidence because we've been there before! We've done it," Penn said.
In the crowd of hundreds, most of the fans watched alongside people they just met.
"This beats being at home by myself all day!" Laura Henderson exclaimed. "I wouldn't miss this for anything. Why miss out on this energy and this experience to cheer on the boys? It's pretty special."
On Henderson's shoulder is a tattoo commemorating all the Bolts Stanley Cup wins and Nikita Kucherov's signature.
"I was like, 'Hey can you sign my shoulder? I'm going to go get a tattoo!' Of course he kind of turned his head and was like, 'Are you serious?' I was like, 'I'm dead serious!'" Henderson said.
The tattoo is just one symbol in the crowd of why the team means so much to the city.
"I've seen what they've been able to do in the past, you know, these past couple of years. They can win in any building against any team. They're a playoff team," Andrew Smith said.
Despite the loss tonight the fans say they will be with them every step of the way.
"If they make it to the final they're winning it! If they make it to the final they're winning it all! They won't lose. We can do it," Smith said.
Game 2 against the Maple Leafs is on Wednesday in Toronto once more. The first home game of the series will be at Amalie Arena on Friday night.