Tampa Bay looking for 2nd straight Stanley Cup appearance

The Pittsburgh Penguins are headed home for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final.

Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist, and Phil Kessel, Kris Letang, Bryan Rust and Nick Bonino also scored Tuesday night in a 5-2 victory that evened the best-of-seven series at three games.

Game 7 is Thursday night, with the Penguins hoping to reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2009 and the Lightning looking to advance to the Cup Final for the second straight year.

“I just told them to embrace the moment. It’s a great opportunity for us. These are the type of circumstances to where you have an opportunity to write your own story,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan.

“They had a certain mindset going into this tonight: ‘We’re going to leave it all out there and do everything we can to bring this back to Pittsburgh,”‘ Sullivan added. “And, certainly that’s what they did.”

Crosby assisted on Kessel’s five-on-three power-play goal in the opening period and skated around Tampa Bay defenceman Anton Stralman into the clear before sending a wrist shot between goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy’s legs for a 3-0 lead in the final minute of the second period.

“We know the circumstances. It makes you go out there with a mindset of playing desperate,” Crosby said. “I think we had confidence in the whole group. I think everyone played great.

“Everyone contributed in their own way. In a big game like this you, don’t do anything special, just do your job. I think that’s gotten us this far.”

Rookie goaltender Matt Murray returned to the lineup after being replaced as the starter for Game 5 by Marc-Andre Fleury, but his 10th playoff victory did not come without a bit of suspense.

Boyle goals not enough for Lightning

Brian Boyle scored twice in the third period for Tampa Bay, with one of the goals bouncing off Kessel before getting past Murray, who finished with 28 saves. The second score drew the Lightning within one goal with 7:17 remaining.

Rust’s breakaway goal gave Pittsburgh breathing room and Bonino added an empty-netter to finish it off.

Kessel’s goal was his team-leading ninth of the playoffs. Crosby had the primary assist, his first point since delivering game-winners in Games 2 and 3, and Evgeni Malkin also had an assist to extend his point streak to four games after a slow start in the series.

Early Drouin goal overturned

The Lightning had an apparent goal by Jonathan Drouin waived off a little more than five minutes into the game, when Penguins coach Mike Sullivan successfully challenged that the young Tampa Bay winger was offside on the play before tapping in a rebound off Ondrej Palat’s shot that bounced off Murray’s pads.

Sullivan announced the decision to go back to Murray following Tuesday’s morning skate, with the Penguins facing elimination for the first time this post-season.

Murray started the first four games of the series. Fleury replaced him during the third period of Game 4, then made his first start in nearly two months in Game 5, which Tampa Bay won 4-3 in overtime.

“I just think it’s part of his DNA. He has a calming influence. He doesn’t get rattled if he lets a goal in. He continues to compete,” Sullivan said.

“That’s usually an attribute that takes years to acquire. And to have it at such a young age is impressive. I think one of his biggest strengths is just his ability to stay in the moment.”

Before Game 5, Fleury had not started a game since March 31, when he suffered a concussion.

Tampa Bay entered the game determined to not come out flat in Game 6 of the conference final for the second straight year.

The Lightning beat the New York Rangers on the road to go up 3-2 in that series, but were badly outplayed at home the next game and had to return to Madison Square Garden to finish the series.

Now, they’ll have to win on the road again to make the third Stanley Cup appearance in franchise history.

“I know we can. I’ve got confidence in this group. We believe we can do that,” Tampa Bay’s Ryan Callahan said. “We’ve had success on the road in the playoffs. We’ve had success in their building already. It’s going to be a good one.”

Article Written By: Fred Goodall of The Associated Press