Evgeni Malkin guaranteed a Game 6 victory and the Pittsburgh Penguins delivered.
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Sidney Crosby has a pretty simple explanation for why he has scored all three of the Penguins’ game-winning goals in the Eastern Conference final against Tampa Bay.
Tampa Bay looked to have taken the lead with 14:48 left on a goal from Jonathan Drouin, but an official review showed that Drouin was offside – his back skate hadn’t crossed the blue line but was up off the ice, so the goal was waived off. Crosby picked up the primary assist on Phil Kessel’s first period, power play goal.
Kris Letang, the remainder of the Penguins’ MVT, most vilified trinity, blistered a wrist shot past Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy at 7:40 of the second to put the Penguins up by a couple, but Crosby’s inspired cadenza as the period was about to expire sucked the air out of the building and sent the series halfway back to the airport.
And just like that, the Lightning looked lifeless until the start of the third period, when the Penguins had built up a three-goal lead.
Game 7 is Thursday night, with the Penguins hoping to reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2009 and the Lightning looking to advance to the Cup Final for the second straight year.
What will happen in Game 6?
“Whenever you get a 5-on-3, you’ve got to get one”, Kessel said, “and we were fortunate to get one tonight”.
“Give Pittsburgh a ton of credit for the way they played and how they handled things, ” Cooper said.
What if Tampa Bay played more like they did in the third period?
This is the stuff of legend, and this is Sidney Crosby’s opportunity to add to a sterling legacy already guaranteed to place him among the all-time greats.
“But we battled through it. We weathered the storm and got it done”.
“It’s tough”, said Lightning forward Ryan Callahan of losing Game 6.
The Penguins will need to rely on Murray’s precocious maturity if it wants to buck a curious trend that started well before Murray was born.
Pittsburgh has gone from a 2-1 series lead to facing elimination for the first time this postseason after losing consecutively for the first time since January.
After all, considering all Tampa Bay has been through, making it this far without injured captain Steven Stamkos, and injured Vezina Trophy finalist Ben Bishop missing most of this series, who would bet against the Lightning?
F Bryan Rust got a breakaway goal with 2:08 left to seal the Penguins win in Tampa Bay on Tuesday. And so perhaps the lesson of this year’s playoff run is this: Count them out at your own risk. He was given the vote of confidence by coach Mike Sullivan and responded in a manner uncanny for a 21-year-old. The Penguins haven’t won a Game 7 at home since 1995, when they defeated the Washington Capitals 3-0 to win an Eastern Conference Quarterfinal.
Not so much, the Lightning coach figured. He didn’t play as many games as workhorses like Braden Holtby, but Elliott was arguably the league’s best puck-stopper on a per-game basis in 2015-16. Zero Stanley Cup Final games. After getting 59 points in 82 games during the regular season, Kessel has 18 points (nine goals and nine assists) in the postseason in 17 games.
What it means: Game 7!
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“Because we lost the game, it’s easy to say that had something to do with it, but it was really early in the game”, Cooper said. “If he lets a goal in he just continues to compete, and that’s an attribute that usually takes years to acquire that and to have it at such a young age is impressive”.
