Kucherov hero for Lightning in OT

> LIGHTNING 6 > RANGERS 5 LIGHTNING LEAD SERIES 2-1

TAMPA, FLA.— Nikita Kucherov scored 3:33 into overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 6-5 victory over the New York Rangers on Wednesday night in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Ondrej Palat had two goals and an assist and Tyler Johnson, Steven Stamkos and Alex Killorn each had one goal and an assist for the Lightning. They took a 2-1lead in the bestof-7 series that continues Friday night at Amalie Arena.

The winner came about a minute after New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist made a terrific stop on J.T. Brown’s breakaway.

New York tied it 5-5 on Dan Boyle’s rebound with 1:56 left in regulation. Jesper Fast scored twice, and the Rangers also got power-play goals from Derick Brassard and Ryan McDonagh.

Johnson, who paced Tampa Bay’s 6-2 road victory in Game 2 with a hat trick, scored his playoff-leading 12th goal after Tampa Bay overcame an early 2-0 deficit.

The Rangers also came back after trailing 4-2, with Fast scoring his second goal late in the second period and McDonagh converting a powerplay opportunity early in the third.

After splitting the first two games in New York, the Rangers talked about cleaning up mistakes that cost them in Game 2, as well as the need to create more scoring opportunities against Lightning goalie Ben Bishop.

They didn’t have a lot of chances early, but did make the most of team.

Brassard scored on the first shot of the game, sending the puck over Bishop’s shoulder from the left circle. Fast made it 2-0 with the nifty backhand made possible, in part, by a big hit on Tampa Bay’s Matthew Carle. With the Lightning defenceman slow to get to his feet, Fast skated freely up the middle before taking a pass from Chris Kreider and barrelling in alone on Bishop to score his second goal of the playoffs and give the Rangers the type of start they felt they needed to reassert themselves.

But Tampa Bay would not be denied.

Stamkos began the comeback with his fifth goal of the playoffs. Lundqvist cleared a bouncing puck with his stick directly to Stamkos, who had 43 goals during the regular season and is a two-time Maurice Richard Trophy winner. Johnson assisted on Palat’s goal to make it 2-2, and the linemate returned the favour with a perfect pass to Johnson, camped to Lundqvist’s right for an easy tap in that put the Lightning up 3-2.

Bishop finished with 23 saves for Tampa Bay. Lundqvist stopped 34 of 40 shots, giving up six goals for the second straight game.