Palat scores late, Lighting beats Rangers in Game 5
NEW YORK — After falling behind midway through the game, the Tampa Bay Lightning showed the poise of a two-time defending champion. They rallied for another late victory to move a win away from returning to the Stanley Cup Final.
Ondrej Palat scored on a deflection with 1:50 remaining to break a tie and lead the Lightning to a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday night for a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference final.
“We just stayed patient,” Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos said. “We knew it would be a challenge in this atmosphere. We knew it would be a low-scoring grinding game. We continued our game plan and got rewarded.”
Mikhail Sergachev had a goal and an assist, and Brandon Hagel also scored to help the Lightning get their third straight victory, the first by a road team in this series. Andre Vasilevskiy stopped 24 shots.
On the tiebreaking goal, Sergachev got a pass from Victor Hedman and fired a shot from the right point through traffic in front that deflected off Palat’s knee and past Igor Shesterkin to give the Lightning their first lead of the night.
“I saw our guys going to the net hard,” Sergachev said. “I tried to shoot the puck as quickly as possible.”
Ryan Lindgren scored for New York, which had won eight straight at home. Shesterkin finished with 24 saves.
“It definitely stings,” Rangers
defenseman Jacob Trouba said. “It was a tight game that could have gone either way. I think that’s what makes it more frustrating.”
Game 6 is tonight in Tampa, Florida.
“We haven’t won the series, it’s just 3-2,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “The Rangers — any team — has proven they can wipe that out. We’re the first ones with our eyes wide open, knowing that can happen. We’ll see how this goes.”
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 at 1. Vasilevskiy also gloved a shot by Kevin Rooney with about eight minutes left.
After Palat’s deflection put the Lightning ahead, Hagel sealed the win with a empty-netter with 59 seconds remaining.
“The game-winning goal can come in the first minute or last minute,” Cooper said. “It doesn’t really matter when it comes. You just have to get it.”
The loss dropped the Rangers to a 3-2 series hole for the third time this postseason. They were down 3-1 to Pittsburgh in the first round before winning three straight to advance. Then, they trailed 3-2 against Carolina before winning the last two games to reach the conference finals.
“It seems like we play our best hockey when our backs are against the wall,” Lindgren said. “We’ve just got to go to Tampa and win a game. Take it one game at a time and just draw from those past experiences and go play our best hockey.”
Shesterkin made a nice save on a rush by 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.