It doesn’t take a sports expert to know how important Game 5 is in the playoffs. That 3-2 lead makes life a lot easier for a team to close out a series, so you knew that both teams were going to be on their A game with a Stanley Cup Final appearance on the line. The Tampa Bay Lightning had all the momentum from their two wins in Tampa, but the New York Rangers had an extra kick with the returns of centers Ryan Strome and Filip Chytil to the lineup, and they had the home crowd on their side.
The home-ice advantage seemed to favor the Rangers in the first, as they stayed dedicated to some tight, defensive hockey and held the Lightning to just three shots. It did make for a pretty uneventful period, as without too many chances, and no powerplays, there weren’t too many opportunities for stuff to happen.
The second period saw things really start to pick up. The teams exchanged power plays with no results, but New York finally broke the ice in the middle of the second period. Ryan Lindgren took the old adage of “throw the puck on net” to heart, and it paid off for him with a goal from a weird angle that found a way past Andrei Vasilevskiy and gave the Rangers the 1-0 lead.
The Lightning got a chance to tie it immediately after with a power play, but it wasn’t until closer to the end of the period when they got the tying goal. Mikhail Sergachev corralled the puck along the blue line, found an opening, and fired one past Igor Shesterkin, and it was 1-1 going into the third.
It was bad news for the Lightning to start the period, as Ryan McDonagh was still in the dressing room after taking an awkward tumble in the second period, but he eventually returned near the end of the third.
It became the goalie duel many expected this series to be, with both Shesterkin and Vasilevskiy stopping everything in their path, including this spectacular save from Vasilevskiy.
That save was huge for the Lightning, as it set the stage for another late goal from the Bolts to win the game. Who else but Ondrej Palat to get it, as Sergachev took another shot from the point, and while he was initially credited with the goal, it was Palat’s deflection that made it happen, and the Lightning had a late 2-1 lead.
The Rangers quickly pulled Shesterkin and made a last attempt to tie the game, but Brandon Hagel iced it with an empty-net goal before they could. The Lightning take the game 3-1, and find themselves a game away from their third straight Stanley Cup Final. It was definitely a battle of the goalies, as both Vasilevskiy and Shesterkin made 24 saves, but Shesterkin faced one more shot, and that one shot was the difference maker.
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