Rangers 7, Lightning 3
TAMPA, Fla. -- The New York Rangers staved off elimination on the road yet again, holding off the Tampa Bay Lightning with a resounding 7-3 win Tuesday at Amalie Arena that sends the Eastern Conference finals back to New York for a Game 7 on Friday night.
New York is 7-0 all-time at home in Game 7s.
New York jumped out to a 2-0 lead, held off a slew of Tampa Bay shots in the middle of the game, then pulled away with three goals in a span of 4:02 early in the third.
Center Derick Brassard had a hat trick, scoring the first goal and then two of the Rangers' five third-period goals.
Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, at home with his back against the wall, is now 15-3 in elimination games over the last four seasons. Lundqvist made 36 saves in the game.
Clinging to a 2-1 lead, New York extended its lead to 3-1 on a goal by center J.T. Miller with 16:58 left in the game.
Lightning center Steven Stamkos had a turnover to set up a 3-on-1 for New York, and goalie Ben Bishop stopped the first two shots, but Brassard found Miller in front of the net for the goal and a commanding 3-1 lead.
Less than three minutes later, the Rangers scored on a rebound, as center James Sheppard got his first goal of the playoffs for a 4-1 lead with 14:00 left. Brassard added another goal, his eighth of the playoffs, with 12:56 left, sending Bishop to the bench for the rest of the game having stopped just 21 of 26 shots faced.
The line of Brassard, Miller and right-winger Rick Nash had four points each in a dominating night.
The Rangers are now 43-0-1 this season when leading after two periods, including a 7-0 mark in the playoffs. Tampa Bay got a late goal from right winger Nikita Kucherov, then Nash added the sixth goal against backup goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. Kucherov added a second goal with 6:39 to play and Brassard finished the scoring with an empty-netter.
The Rangers scored on their first shot of the game, with Brassard pushing a shot through the legs of Bishop with 16:24 left in the opening period.
New York doubled its advantage on a long shot from defenseman Keith Yandle, who beat Bishop over his left shoulder with 4:30 left in the opening period. It was Yandle's second goal of the playoffs.
The Lightning pulled one back with 2:40 left in the first period with a power-play goal by former Rangers captain Ryan Callahan, who broke in on Lundqvist and beat him to his left for his first goal of the playoffs.
NOTES: For only the second time in 19 playoff games, the Lightning played Tuesday without C Cedric Paquette, who left Sunday's game holding his right forearm/hand after blocking a shot and played sparingly after the injury. In his place, Tampa Bay dressed rookie Vladislav Namestnikov, who played in 11 postseason games but has no goals and only one assist. Lightning D Braydon Coburn is healthy after playing less than six minutes in Sunday's game due to illness. ... The Rangers faced a Game 6 on the road, trailing 3-2 in the Eastern semifinals, and rallied to beat Washington 4-3 on the way to a seven-game win to advance. Over the last four seasons, New York is 17-3 in elimination games.