Facing elimination, the Penguins brought their “A” game against the Lightning, same as they did in wins in Games 2 and 3. Do they adjust a defense that the Penguins seem to have figured out? But the goal was erased after the Penguins challenged and the officials determined Drouin was offsides.
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The team’s other injured star, Ben Bishop, definitely won’t be able to suit up for Game 7. Sidney Crosby led the way for Pittsburgh with a goal and an assist in a vintage performance for the Pens captain.
Evgeni Malkin assisted on that goal, too, and was solid, outside of taking a retaliation penalty in the first period.
Two nights earlier, Pittsburgh had a 2-0 lead in the second period, only to see the Lightning rally back to tie the game and win in overtime.
“Matt was huge for us there the last 10 minutes”, forward Patric Hornqvist said.
Kris Letang also scored for the team; just his second of the playoffs. The Lightning attempted a third-period comeback behind two Brian Boyle goals, however their efforts were swept aside as the Pens scored twice in the closing minutes for a 5-2 victory.
There are few players that can impact a game like him and if the Lightning have success in Game 7, there’s a good chance Hedman has a lot to do with it.
Boyle’s first goal went in off Pittsburgh’s Phil Kessel, who had tried to redirect it but put it in the net off a wide shot with 14:30 left. The Penguins had D Olli Maatta, a scratch in Games 2-4, active again in place of Trevor Daley, who was lost to a broken ankle in Game 4 in Tampa. This gave him his tenth win of the playoffs. Stralman has played in seven such situations in his career and the team he has been on has won all seven of those games. He has added two more game-winning goals since and has left his fingerprints on each of the Penguins’ three wins in the conference Final.
Looking at the history of those contests, two of the opponent franchises are original-six organizations (Boston Bruins in 2011 and New York Rangers previous year in 2015).
Game 7 will be played at the Consol Energy Center on Thursday, May 26, with the puck drop set for 8pm ET.
And this team may be the one to do that.
Another interesting stat: The Penguins have won the last 11 postseason games in which Crosby has scored.
Kessel wasn’t producing with his new team, but now he leads the team in points during this playoff run. Carl Hagelin turned out to be just the addition they needed with 12 points this postseason; five goals and seven assists.
Heading into Tuesday’s game, many were unsure whether starting Murray in net was the right call by Sullivan. Vasilevskiy also hasn’t been benched, unlike Murray. “You want to defend well, but you don’t want to sit back”.
“But I absolutely love the fact that they believe in their teammates, they believe in themselves and they believe that when they step on the ice each and every night that they are going to win”.
Both have played in some big games over their young careers at other levels, with Vasilevskiy probably playing in a few more given his experience in big tournaments for Russian Federation.
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First, let us not speak one word about momentum as we contemplate Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals.
