'We did win, didn't we...?'

"Have you heard? The Tribune says we lost..."

Celebrations in Florida for Tampa Bay's first-ever NHL championship were slightly undermined when the local newspaper bemoaned the team's defeat.

The Tampa Tribune apologised to its readers after mistakenly running an editorial written as if the Lightning had lost the deciding seventh game of the Stanley Cup finals.

The team beat Calgary 2-1 on home ice to clinch the NHL crown amid scenes of wild jubilation.

But the Tribune's editorial in 275,000 editions read: "Tampa Bay didn't win the Stanley Cup last night, but the team had a championship season nevertheless."

Editorial page editor Rosemary Goudreau issued a statement on the newspaper's website admitting: "We took a puck in the gut this morning."

We apologise to the team and to the fans for our terrible error Rosemary Goudreau

Publisher Gil Thelen said it was unclear how the mistake was made on Monday night as the newspaper rushed to press following the Lightning's triumph.

The Tribune had prepared two editorials - one for a win and one for a loss.

But despite placing the correct editorial in its computerised page-making system, the one prepared for defeat appeared instead.

Thelen and Tribune Editor Frank Denton said the newspaper was investigating the error to make sure it doesn't happen again.

A similar mistake happened to the New York Post last October when early editions carried an editorial bemoaning the Yankees' loss to arch rivals Boston in the American League title-decider.

But the Yankees had staged a late rally to tie game seven and then won in extra innings.