By Rich Libero | NHL.com

TAMPA -- Contrary to popular belief, a conga line of NHL executives did not form along the roof of the League's New York-based headquarters when the Calgary Flames and Tampa Bay Lightning qualified for the Stanley Cup Finals.

The anti-hockey media is agog over this matchup. They won't give two seconds of notice to what's going to happen in this series, but they'll be the first ones to tell you that no one will be watching on TV and that hockey is a sick and dying sport that should just go away. For them, it's all about being blindfolded and whacking the NHL piņata.

What fun.

Well, here's the truth: People are going to watch this series, including an entire nation of 30 million hockey-mad people in Canada. The American audience will be drawn into this David vs. David matchup and, despite popular belief, this series will end up making the NHL stronger.

You see, the people who understand hockey recognize what this series can represent to the hockey-watching world. The folks in the media who understand the game were asking the right questions before the series: Could this series be a watershed that will end the neutral zone trap as the dominant style of play? Could this series usher in a re-birth of run-and-gun hockey?

The Lightning and the Flames both combine hard work with team defense, team speed and a pressuring style that forces turnovers and creates deadly counterattacks. It all makes for an exciting soup that has many harkening back to the 1980's.

"I know this (system) here is the one that we wanted to instill three or four years ago," Tampa coach John Tortorella said. "We feel it's a fun way to play for the players."

It's turned out to be fun for the fans as well. The "diminutive" Lightning weren't given a chance against the burly Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Flyers were built with size and strength. They were designed to defeat the New Jersey Devils and outmuscle the Toronto Maple Leafs. They accomplished both those things, but something happened when the fleet-footed, supposedly less physical Lightning prevailed in seven games.

Was that the sound of a mold being shattered?

"Some teams may think of other ways of doing it," Tortorella said. "There's no right or wrong way. But we go about it this way. I know Calgary likes to chase things down and go pretty much straight ahead also, For these two teams to get here, does that change anything? That's not up for us to decide."

It may not be up to Tortorella to personally decide, but it is up to the guys who are card-carrying members of the NHL Coaches' Association. Other coaches have to decide that they want to adopt similar systems.

Once coaches begin to change the strategies, general managers must draft, sign and trade for the pieces to make that game plan a reality. The question is like the chicken-or-egg paradox. Which drives the strategy? Do you tailor the strategy to the horses you have in the barn or do you install the strategy and trade horses as you go?

"I have always liked pressing, forechecking," Tortorella said. "When we first came here, the system was going to come in that way. I think as the two or three years have gone by, we have allowed it to be more aggressive when we felt our team could handle more. So we have slowly progressed into a chase-type system."

When Tortorella joined the Lightning he had a young and inexperienced team, especially on defense and he allowed the system to grow with the players. The same can be said of the Flames. But, that scenario demands time and patience. Fads happen overnight, so if this Stanley Cup Final does manage to change a few philosophies, can we expect to see the results overnight?

The answer is no.

When it comes to a highly creative sport like hockey, it is easier to destroy than it is to create. That's why the neutral zone trap scheme grew like a weed. It was easier to find players who could break things up and turn it back in an opponent's face. Eventually, the skill players would take advantage of a mistake or a weaker player, but those moments became far and few between.

"We like to push it up the ice and we feel defense starts when you don't have the puck," Tortorella said. "Why wait to get it back in (your) zone or the neutral zone? Why not go get it now? It's pretty simple thinking. We feel our players have bought into it."

The fans of Tampa and Calgary have bought in and so has the hockey-educated faction of the media. But will the guys who build hockey teams for a living think the same way? Will the doomsayers - the columnists and Sunday morning TV pundits in the media finally understand?

Remember, it's easier to destroy than it is to create. That's why so many sports media "luminaries" get paid the big bucks.