But Crosby answered the critics Tuesday, scoring and assisting on goals as the Penguins played a dominant 40 minutes and held on for a 5-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning to force a Game 7 in this you’ll-never-guess-what-happens-next Eastern Conference finals.
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Superstar forward Sidney Crosby led the offense with two points, including the eventual winning goal late in the second period.
Rust’s breakaway goal at 17:52 of the third gave Pittsburgh breathing room, and Bonino added an empty-netter to finish it off.
The Penguins benefited from the winning challenge and a two strong defensive periods to post a 5-2 win that forces a Game 7 Thursday in Pittsburgh to decide the victor of the Eastern Conference Final.
Murray is 9-4 with a 2.33 goals-against average and.923 save percentage thus far in the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Four players are tied for the most goals in the series with 3, most notably Penguins’ Phil Kessel.
Crosby’s facial expression reflected celebration for just a few moments after he buried a shot that eventually represented the Penguins’ game-winner in a 5-2 victory over the Lightning in the Eastern Conference finals’ penultimate meeting. “We think we have quality people, but it’s an imperfect situation”, Sullivan said before the team flew south to Florida on Monday. That was until Penguins coach Mike Sullivan challenged the goal for being on an offside play. “I think we probably did that a little bit past year”.
“They played better than us for two periods”, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said.
Get all of Allan Muir’s columns as soon as they’re published. Game 6 is in Tampa, airing at 8 p.m.
“You go through different experiences and you realize how hard it is to get these types of opportunities”, Crosby said. Hornqvist’s tap-in off Carl Hagelin’s feed made it 2-0 just 90 seconds into the second. They knew the Lightning, with a Stanley Cup final within reach on home ice, would throw their best punch in the third period, but there was nothing they could do about it.
Russell Westbrook had 36 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists, and the Thunder beat the Warriors 118-94 in Oklahoma City to take a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference Finals and put the defending National Basketball Association champions on the brink of elimination.
Maybe it’s a combination of those factors; either way, the Bolts couldn’t come all the way back even after making it interesting. “But we put ourselves in position to play for it, so we’re just going to go after it”.
Venue: Amalie Arena, Tampa Bay, Fla.
The Lightning have been here before: One year ago, they lost a potential close-out game on home ice, then won a Game 7 on the road at Madison Square Garden. “It’s a great opportunity for us”. They also played the first two rounds without a key defenseman, Anton Stralman, who was sidelined with an injury of his own.
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Chris Kunitz restored the Penguins lead but a late strike from Kucherov in the third and final period made it 3-3, sending the game to overtime and handing Johnson his moment of glory.
