Goals from Kris Letang and Sidney Crosby put Pittsburgh 3-0 ahead, but the Lightning did manage to stage a fightback in the final period at the Amalie Arena.
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Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevsky entered the series in Game 1 after Ben Bishop got hurt, and he made 25 saves on 26 shots in the win.
The Pittsburgh Penguins host the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Thursday, start time at 8:00 PM ET.
Facing elimination for the first time in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Pittsburgh Penguins responded better than most expected. “That’s why I think the experience that we’ve had the last couple seasons is hopefully going to play to our advantage”. It’s a great opportunity for us. “These are the type of circumstances to where you have an opportunity to write your own story”, Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. We had a good third [period] but obviously too little too late and there’s nothing we can do about it now. “And, certainly that’s what they did”.
The Penguins extended the series by winning Game 6. “This is a team that really believes in one another and believes we can score a goal and be a threat offensively when we do the right things”.
Two nights ago, the Penguins carried a two-goal lead into the final 10 minutes of Game 5. “We know what it takes”. I thought I handled it pretty well. But he just hasn’t stolen a game and, until he does, you have to wonder if he can.
Pittsburgh switched back to rookie goaltender Matt Murray, after having used the more experienced Marc-Andre Fleury in Game 5 as he returned from a long absence due to concussion. “He has a calming influence”. The final call rested in Saucier’s hands, Sullivan said, based on the established criteria set beforehand. “And he has it at such a young age”.
“I think it’s a roller coaster”, Cooper said. The Lightning dominated play, outshooting the Penguins 19 to 8 in the third, and making it a 3-2 game before a Bryan Rust goal with just less than three minutes remaining put the game out of reach. “We kind of tiptoed around it. We weren’t aggressive”. “We were tentative and weren’t aggressive”.
In the postseason, Phil Kessel leads in points with 18 and in goals with 9.
Pittsburgh has lost each of the last three Game 7s they’ve been in, one of which came with both Crosby and Malkin injured (in 2011 against the Lightning). We’ve got to play a good, solid road game like we did past year.
Sullivan announced the decision to go back to Murray following Tuesday’s morning skate.
Murray also received an early gift hours before his 22nd birthday in the form of a reprieve on a backbreaking goal in the first five minutes of Game 6. Fleury wasn’t bad in Game 5, but it was obvious he wasn’t up to game speed. The team should be angry about the Lightning’s Game 6 loss.
As for Murray, he bounced back from sitting in Game 5 to turn in a solid performance in Pittsburgh’s 5-2 victory in Game 6. But history also tells no team has made the Stanley Cup Final without their leading scorer (in this case, Steven Stamkos for Tampa Bay).
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“We were just more aggressive, ” left wing Jonathan Drouin said. “So that’s all I’ve got for that”. Tampa Bay will have one last chance to rectify their mistakes, or they’ll be headed home. We’ve had success in their building already. If one goes in that he thinks he should have had, he just refocuses and he plays. At the start, this team was unrecognizable as the Penguins they are today. Instead of wilting under the pressure, Lightning players showed outstanding composure, blanking the Rangers 2-0 to punch their ticket to the final. Malkin was penalized in the first period for slashing Tampa Bay Bay’s Ryan Callahan in what appeared to be retaliation for the Lightning forward whacking him across the wrist with his stick….
