New York goaltender Henrik Lundqvist reverted to his reliable ways after two poor performances, and helped the Rangers beat Tampa Bay 5-1 on Friday to square the NHL Eastern Conference Finals at 2-2.
Lundqvist stopped 38 shots after allowing 12 goals while losing the previous two games. Rick Nash had two goals and an assist, and Martin St Louis — the former Tampa Bay captain — contributed a third-period goal.
“The last 48 hours or so, it’s been pretty tough trying not to over-analyze or complicate things soul searching,” Lundqvist said.
Photo: AFP
Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos scored for the third straight game, briefly making it 1-1 before New York’s Chris Kreider and Keith Yandle struck within a two-minute span for a 3-1 Rangers lead.
With the Lightning’s Nikita Nesterov in the penalty box for high-sticking St Louis, the star of Tampa Bay’s 2004 Stanley Cup championship team, delivered his first goal this postseason to make it 4-1 with a little less than 15 minutes remaining.
Nash, who had one goal over his previous 13 games, added another power-play goal at 11 minutes, 33 seconds of the third for the Rangers, who host Game 5 today.
“People are going to wake up in the morning and look at the box score and say: ‘Oh wow, Tampa got waxed,’ but if you’re in the building, you probably don’t see it that way,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.
The Lightning outshot the Rangers 39-24, but could not rattle Lundqvist, who blocked a Stamkos shot from point-blank range and moments later stopped Alex Killorn on a breakaway as Tampa Bay tried to get back in the game in the second period.
“There was a lot of talk about him and about his play, but there wasn’t any doubt from within our dressing room. Hank has done this so many times before,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said.
“We knew he was going to come out and do what he always does — give us a chance to win — and that’s what he did again tonight,” he added.
Tampa Bay goaltender Bishop yielded five goals for the second straight game after not allowing more than three in Tampa Bay’s first 14 playoff games.
“From Bish on out, myself included, we have to be better next game,” Stamkos said. “It’s 2-2. It’s a best two out of three now.”
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