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Lundqvist had won the last six series-deciding showdowns he
had played for New York but third-period goals by Alex Killorn
and Ondrej Palat ended that National Hockey League record run by
the Swede and silenced the Madison Square Garden crowd.
Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop stopped all 22 shots from the
Rangers, withstanding an all-out assault in the final minutes,
while Lundqvist saved 23 in the defensive battle.
Tampa Bay will meet either the Anaheim Ducks or the Chicago
Blackhawks, who play a Game Seven decider of their own on
Saturday for the Western Conference title.
"They just answer the challenge," Lightning coach Jon Cooper
said about his young team, beaten 7-3 with a chance to end the
series in Game Six in Florida.
The Lightning, who led the NHL in goals during the season,
played ferocious defense to register their fifth victory in six
games at the Garden this season.
"You shine the light bright on our guys, they'll just put on
sunglasses and walk right through it," Cooper said. "It's unreal
how they respond."
After two pressure-packed, scoreless periods, Lightning center
Killorn opened the scoring just two minutes into the third.
Spinning off the wall and skating toward the middle, Killorn
flicked a backhand through a crowd that trickled past a
sprawling Lundqvist on the glove side.
"The puck had eyes and went through a couple of bodies and went
through Hank (Lundqvist), so that turned out to be the winner,"
a dejected Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said.
Tampa Bay delivered the hammer blow nine minutes later when
Tyler Johnson raced up the right and delivered the puck
perfectly to Palat, who buried it past Lundqvist.
"I think we all felt that the (first) goal was going to be
extremely important," Lundqvist lamented. "Unfortunately, I
never saw it until it was too late."
The Lightning will be playing in the Stanley Cup Finals for the
second time in their 22-year existence, having beaten Calgary to
win the NHL title in 2004.
It was a gut-wrenching loss for the Rangers, who had the best
regular season record, after losing in the Finals last year to
the Los Angeles Kings.
The best-of-seven Stanley Cup Finals series begins on Wednesday.
(Editing by Peter Rutherford/John O'Brien)
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