Lightning blank Rangers; move on to Cup final
The Tampa Bay Lightning are in the Stanley Cup Final. (USATSI)
Every night during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Eye On Hockey writers Adam Gretz and Chris Peters will bring you up to speed everything you need to know about all of the action around the NHL. Here’s what you need to know about Rangers vs. Lightning Game 7.
New York Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning, Game 7
Lightning 2, Rangers 0 | Lightning win series 4-3
Game 7 in a nutshell: The Tampa Bay Lightning are back in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2004 thanks to their 2-0 win over the New York Rangers in Game 7 on Friday night. It was a masterful defensive performance as they completely shut down the Rangers offense. The Rangers managed just 21 shots on goal (and only 11 through two periods) and for the second time in as many games failed to score on home ice. It’s the biggest reason they will not be returning to the Stanley Cup Final for the second year in a row.
Turning point: With the Lightning protecting a 1-0 lead midway through the third period, the Rangers put together perhaps their best surge. New York had a great opportunity to score a tying goal when Rick Nash was alone in front and getting ready to jump on a rebound. But as he attempted to get his stick on the puck, former Rangers defenseman Anton Stralman was able to get his stick in the way and disrupt the play just enough to prevent what would have been an outstanding scoring chance and perhaps a tying goal. Just a few minutes later Ondrej Palat scored to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead. Victor Hedman gets all of the attention on the Tampa Bay blue line, but Stralman is almost as important to their success. He will play in his second straight Stanley Cup Final after going a year ago with the Rangers, and he has been a major factor for both teams.
Three things we learned
1. Ben Bishop is starting to become the new king of the Game 7. He has only played in two of them, both this postseason, and he has yet to allow a goal in either of them. After a 31-save shutout in Game 7 against the Detroit Red Wings in the first round, Bishop followed it up with a 21-save performance on Friday night to help the Lightning win the Eastern Conference. That is a perfect 52-for-52 in two Game 7s this season. He hasn’t always been great, but he has been when the Lightning have needed him most. He also recorded his third assist of the playoffs on Ondrej Palat’s late third period goal.
2. Henrik Lundqvist finally lost a Game 7 after winning six in a row, and it has to be a tough one for him. For most of the night he kept the Rangers in the game as they struggled to generate any sort of offense and spent most of the night defending in their own zone. But the game-winning goal by Alex Killorn early in the third period was probably one of the softest goals he allowed all postseason. It could not have happened at the worst possible time. Tampa Bay added a second goal on an odd-man rush and the Rangers were never able to find the back of the net.
3. Tampa Bay’s best offensive players were just too much for the Rangers in this series. Of the 21 goals the Lightning scored in the series, 19 of them were scored by Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos and Alex Killorn, including their only two goals on Friday night (Killorn and Palat). It was a top-heavy performance, but when your top players are scoring that much and carrying your team like that it’s sometimes just enough to get through a best-of-seven series.
Video of the game: This is the game-winning goal for the Tampa Bay Lightning, and it belongs to Alex Killorn. This is a tough one for Henrik Lundqvist to give up.
.@Akillorn19 strikes first for the @TBLightning. #NYRvsTBL #StanleyCup https://t.co/2NRsSBqwYJ
— NHL (@NHL) May 30, 2015
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