NHL

Lightning strike in Game 7 road win vs. Rangers, advance to Stanley Cup Final

Danny Knobler
Special for USA TODAY Sports
Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Ben Bishop (30) celebrates with right wing Nikita Kucherov (86) and center Steven Stamkos (91) after defeating the New York Rangers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals at Madison Square Garden.

NEW YORK -- The longer it stayed scoreless, the more it looked like another Henrik Lundqvist special.

But the longer it stayed scoreless, the more the Tampa Bay Lightning believed that this Game 7 belonged to them.

The Lightning talked a big game in the days and hours leading up to the decisive game of the Eastern Conference Finals Friday night, but they played an even better one. They beat the mighty Lundqvist twice in the third period, and they beat the New York Rangers and the ghosts of Madison Square Garden in a 2-0 shutout that sends the Lightning to the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in franchise history.

The first time the Lightning got this far, they won the Cup in 2004. This time, they'll open the Cup Final Wednesday night against either the Chicago Blackhawks or the Anaheim Ducks, who play Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals on Saturday night in California.

It wasn't supposed to be this way, at least not if you read your Game 7 history. Lundqvist had won Game 7 an NHL-record six consecutive times. The Rangers were 7-0 in Game 7 when they played it at home in the Garden.

"He's a great goaltender," Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos responded Friday morning. "He's never played the Tampa Bay Lightning in a Game 7 before."

It sounded like big talk from a team desperate to believe. It turned out to be exactly what the Lightning believed.

"For whatever reason, that was probably the most calm Game 7 I've ever played in," Stamkos said when it was over, in a surprisingly calm and subdued Lightning locker room. "I don't know what it was. Going into the third period [when the game was scoreless], we knew we were playing the game the right way. We knew we were going to get one, and we were going to go from there.

"It wasn't pretty, but we found a way."

They finally found a way past Lundqvist, when Alex Killorn scored on a backhand shot 1:54 into the third period for his seventh goal of the playoffs. The Triplets Line came through for the second goal, with Ondrej Palat scoring his seventh of the playoffs at 11:17.

The Rangers upped the pressure once they fell behind, but they never could beat Ben Bishop, the Lightning goalie who stopped 22 shots for his third shutout of the playoffs.

"We believe in Bish," Stamkos said. "And we believe in our system."

Their system has been good enough to get them through three rounds, past the Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and now the Rangers. It's been good enough to get them through Game 7 twice already.

The Rangers, of course, thought their belief and their system would prevail. They were the ones who played in the Cup Final a year ago. They were the ones who dedicated themselves to getting back there this year and finishing the job. And they were the ones who won the President's Trophy emblematic of the best team in the regular season.

That won them home-ice advantage through the playoffs, which meant it won them the right to host any Game 7 they played.

Their MSG Game 7 magic came through in the second round against the Washington Capitals, with an overtime win. But it couldn't carry them past a Lightning team full of talent and full of belief.

"We could probably look back and say we chased too many series, and we just ran out of juice," Rangers center Derek Stepan said.

The Rangers created a little pregame intrigue when they dressed seven defensemen and just 15 forwards for the first time all season. The reason seemed to be an injury to captain Ryan McDonagh, who took a hard hit from Steven Stamkos in Game 6.

Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said after the game that McDonagh played with a broken foot.

The Lightning haven't run out of juice yet -- not in these playoffs.

"I'm really proud of what we've accomplished, but it's not over yet," said defenseman Anton Stralman, who went to the Cup Final last year with the Rangers and defeated his ex-teammates to get there again.

The next series obviously will be even bigger than this one. By now, anyone should realize that the Lightning won't be bothered by that.

"You shine the light bright on our guys, they'll just put on sunglasses and walk right through it," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "It's unreal how they respond."

And in a Game 7 that everyone said they wouldn't win, the Lightning responded again.

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