The Tampa Bay Lightning’s “the boys are back in town” video is the most hockey thing ever

The best sports news of quarantine dropped on Tuesday, when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced the league’s “return-to-play” plan. The top 12 teams from each conference based on points percentage will face off in a 24-team playoff, meaning the regular season is officially over. While they won’t actually return to play until it is deemed safe to, the announcement was one big step closer to the return of live sports.

Before the 24-team playoff was agreed upon, all 31 teams had to vote, and only two teams voted no. One was the Carolina Hurricanes, who have done a great deal of whining since the format was made official, and the other was the Tampa Bay Lightning, the current favorite to raise the Stanley Cup.

But, as the Bolts’ player rep Alex Killorn stated, just because they voted no does not mean they didn’t want to get back on the ice. While the Lightning do believe certain aspects of the format are unfair, they’ll still be ready when the puck drops. Don’t believe them? This video, directed by Killorn himself, might change your mind:

Yeah, it looks like “the boys” are ready. “The boys” is one of the all-time greats in hockey slang, by the way. It’s always “the boys,” “the boys,” “the boys.” “The boys” got pucks in deep tonight. “The boys” played hard for 60 minutes. “The boys” all hate that rat Brad Marchand, etc., etc.

Great stuff from the Bolts. The nicknames ending in either “-er” or “-y”, the jabs at the Bruins and the Leafs, the jetskis, the song choice, the flow. My god the flow.

Steven Stamkos’ flow just screams “I’m going to snipe the absolute shit out of a corner tonight.” What a ledge. Hockey is so back.