Ondrej Palat scored the game winning goal with 1:50 remaining to break a tie and lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday night for a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference final.
Brandon Hagel added an empty-netter with 59 seconds to seal the two-time defending champion Lightning’s third straight win, the first by a road team in this series. Andre Vasilevskiy stopped 24 shots.
Ryan Lindgren scored for New York, which had won eight straight at home. Igor Shesterkin finished with 24 saves.
Mikhail Sergachev also scored for the Lightning. Andrei Vasilevskiy had 24 saves.
Game 6 is Saturday night in Tampa, Florida.
Vasilevskiy made several sprawling saves midway through the third, stopping attempts by Ryan Strome, Adam Fox and then Lindgren in a 32 second span to keep it tied 1-1. Vasilevskiy also gloved a shot by Kevin Rooney with about eight minutes left.
Shesterkin made a nice save on a rush by Ondrej Palat two minutes into the second period, and Vasilevskiy had sliding pad save on Tyler Motte less than a minute later to keep the game scoreless.
Shesterkin then made several nice saves during a Lightning power play, including on a slap shot by Nikita Kucherov 4:14 into the period.
Sergachev beat Shesterkin from the right point through traffic in front to give the Lightning their first lead of the night.
The Rangers got their first power play of the night when the Lightning were called for too many men with about eight minutes into the middle period. They managed two shots during the advantage.
Shortly after the penalty expired, the Rangers opened the scoring when Lindgren fired a shot from the left side over Vasilevskiy’s right shoulder with traffic in front with 9:31 left in the period. It was the defenceman’s second of the postseason.
After a Lightning turnover, Motte fired a long shot that was gloved and smothered by Vasilevskiy with just under three minutes left to keep it a one-goal game.
Just 30 later, Sergachev tied it from center point with a shot through traffic for his first this postseason with 2:26 to go.
The Rangers outshot the Lightning in a fast-paced and penalty-free first period. New York had the only shot on goal of first 5 1/2 minutes, a slap shot by Braden Schneider 1:42 into the game. Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov hit a goalpost less than 20 seconds earlier.
Nicholas Paul hit a post with 8 1/2 minutes left in the period and Shesterkin stopped a shot by Riley Nash with 6:48 remaining on the Lightning’s second shot on goal of the game.
Vasileveskiy made two nice saves a minute later, denying slap shots by Artemi Panarin and Filip Chytil.
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