The puck off Jason Garrison’s stick found him anyway, and this time he didn’t even feel it. He was too busy celebrating lifting the Tampa Bay Lightning to within one win away from a return trip to the Stanley Cup Finals. Sullivan turned to the franchise’s all-time winningest goaltender for the third period of Game 4 after Murray surrendered four goals and stuck with Fleury after watching him turn aside all seven shots he faced as the Penguins almost came all the way back. He hasn’t started since March 31, but he did relieve Murray in the third period of Game 4.
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Pittsburgh also will be without defenseman Trevor Daley for the rest of the season, according to Sullivan. The Lightning are 12-1 in the last 13 postseason games in which Johnson has scored, his fortunate bounce Sunday coming two days after he received stitches and lost some teeth after a puck smashed into his face during warmups before Game 4.
“We know the way we need to play at this point”, forward Matt Cullen said. Get the WTAE Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 App and follow our newsroom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Coach Cooper summed up the end of the game very well when he said, “It doesn’t matter how you get there. They’re both really good National Hockey League goalies, so it doesn’t change our mindset or outlook at all”. This was when the team was playing the Washington Capitals. For the Bolts faithful to see a Lightning victory tonight, there are few things to look out for in Game 5. “We’re trying to make the best decisions that we can that we think give our team the best chance to win and that’s the direction that we chose to take for this game”.
After giving up 48 shots in a 4-2 loss on Wednesday, the Lightning were in control from the start and scored 27 seconds into the game.
“I have no excuse”, Letang said. “(The Penguins) play really aggressive in their building, and I think that’s what we’re going to expect”. You always knew when he was on the ice and generating a forecheck, getting in on the forecheck.
“Olli Maatta is a good player, a proven player”. We’ve got a lot of confidence in him. He’s played extremely well for this team, as has Marc, and these guys, their contributions to this team, both of them, [backup goalie Jeff] Zatkoff included, all three of those guys are big reasons why this team is where we’re at. “We played like a team that wanted to win a game (rather) than sit back and wait for something to happen”, Stralman said.
“Man, he’s been so good for us”, Cullen said. “He’s been a great leader, and I can’t say enough about him”. Maatta struggled in Game 1 of this series.
Tampa Bay beat Fleury twice during the regular season, scoring a combined nine goals against him and chasing him once, though Fleury made a couple of quality stops on Friday night, including a breakaway save early in the third that seemed to shift the momentum.
“I don’t think anybody’d sat down yet, and they didn’t need to”.
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And he wasn’t feeling that much better in Game 3. Take Ryan Callahan’s offensive production and physicality out of the equation, and this is an entirely different series for Tampa against Pittsburgh.
