Lightning goalie Ben Bishop bounced back from Game 4, during which he allowed five goals. He had given up 10 goals over the previous two games. Bishop’s night didn’t start off smoothly as he was hit in the groin by a puck during warmups at the hands of Nikita Kucherov. In the end, things sure turned out well. The Lightning took Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, beating the Rangers Sunday night to take a 3-2 series lead. Bishop blocked 26 saves in the shutout. His steady presence in the net helped the Lightning get within one game of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Sunday night’s game got off to a slow start with neither team scoring in the 1st period. While the Rangers’ had back-to-back power plays in the second period, they were unsuccessful in scoring. They have scored two goals in each of the past three games during power plays. After failing on their second PP attempt, Lightning struck twice with goals courtesy of Valtteri Filppula and Lightning captain Steven Stamkos. Stamkos has found the net in four straight games and of 6 of his last 7.
Previous to Game 5, the Rangers held an 0-5 record when trailing after two periods. As a result of the Lightning win, that record is now 0-6.
In the 3rd period it was all Ben Bishop. The Rangers came close to scoring on Bishop several times, who kept deflecting plays, shutting down rebound attempts, and ultimately, kept the net clean.
As the Lightning look to advance to their first Stanley Cup appearance since 2004 and eliminate the Rangers, the Rangers face a must-win game on Tuesday night back in Tampa at Amalie Arena. The Lightning need a repeat of Sunday night’s game to help hinder the Rangers from accelerating to the Stanley Cup Finals for the second year in a row.
This article appears in May 21-27, 2015.