Stamkos on playoff star power: 'We don't care who who's playing who'

Steven Stamkos says that while star matchups like Connor McDavid & Nathan MacKinnon are good for the growth of the game, winning is all that matters for the Tampa Bay Lightning at this time of year.

Video Transcript

- I know you guys are in the thick of it. But the fact that you get to have Vasi and Igor in the same series, and also in the other series there's MacKinnon and McDavid, just this year in the playoffs and to have that sort of stage set, especially where the media rights have changed this year and you're not buried on a channel where people can't find it, just what does that mean for you guys in the sport as you kind of promote your product continuously to the mass audience?

VICTOR HEDMAN: This is good for you.

STEVEN STAMKOS: You want-- do you want the truth or do you want my politically correct answer?

- Want the truth.

STEVEN STAMKOS: Yeah. I mean, we don't care who's playing. We just care that we're here, to be honest with you. But if you take from a fan's perspective, if you want that perspective, I think it's great. You got amazing players over there on the West side of things and you have amazing players here in the East. But we came here to win. So we don't care who we're playing, where we're playing, who is playing who. It's great for the game of hockey, absolutely, and there's no denying that. It's going to be a heck of a series in both sides. But it's about winning right now and whatever we have to do as a group to win.

So we'll enjoy watching those games in the West. We get to be in New York tonight and have a team dinner and watch the game, like we always have throughout the playoffs. But come tomorrow, it's a game day and we have to find a way here to put ourselves in a good position after being off for a little bit here.