Lightning on brink of final
MIAMI: Ryan Callahan and Cedric Paquette scored goals in the opening seconds of the first two periods on Saturday and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat Washington 3-2, moving within one victory of the NHL Final.
Paquette scored the opening goal just 19 seconds into the first period off an assist from Callahan, who found the net 33 seconds into the second period to give the Lightning a 3-0 advantage. They sandwiched their scores around Ondrej Palat’s first-period tally.
The hosts Lightning, who dropped the first two games of the play-off series on home ice, seized a 3-2 lead in the best-ofseven Eastern Conference final with Game Six today in Washington.
“We’ve got to get a start like that again,” Callahan said. “We know it’s going to be emotional.”
The Capitals had not dropped three games in a row since January.
The Lightning, who have five play-off wins on the road this year, are 7-0 in play-off games in Washington.
Either Tampa Bay or Washington will face the Western Conference winners, either Las Vegas or Winnipeg, in the Stanley Cup Final. Vegas carry a 3-1 edge in that series into Game Five at Winnipeg.
The Capitals, on their deepest play-off run since a 1998 finals appearance, must win to force a seventh game in Florida on Wednesday and see their fans endure yet another heartbreak.
Washington led the NHL in the regular season the past two seasons only to lose in the second round to eventual champions Pittsburgh each time.
But this month saw a breakthrough as the Capitals eliminated the defending champions Penguins in six games in the second round.
Since Russian star Alex Ovechkin’s arrival, the Capitals have lost seven NHL play-off series in a seventh game.
Tampa Bay’s Ondrej Palat scored his sixth goal of the play-offs 9:04 minutes into the opening period and Callahan’s goal gave the Lightning a commanding edge.
But the Lightning were outshot 26-7 the rest of the way.