For the third time in franchise history, the Tampa Bay Lightning will play in the Stanley Cup Finals after eliminating the New York Islanders in six games. They needed overtime in game six, but came through with a 2-1 win to win the NHL's Eastern Conference Finals.
The Islanders scored first in this game, when Devon Toews scored at the 4:15 mark to give New York an early lead. That lead did not last long, as Victor Hedman scored at the 6:28 mark of the first to tie the game.
That would be all the scoring of regulation, as both goalies stood tall as the game progressed. All told Andrei Vasilevskiy would finish 26-for-27 in net, while Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov saved an incredible 46 shots on 4 attempts when this one was said and done.
Coming down the stretch run of this game, each team put pressure on but the game was tied 1-1. Much like in game five, the Islanders were called for a four-minute double minor near the end of regulation that gave Tampa Bay a long power play to end the third and start overtime.
Though the Lightning were unable to score on the long power play as the game went into overtime, Andrei Vasievlskiy did some through with a huge shorthanded save on an extremely dangerous Brock Nelson shot early in overtime. That would set up Anthony Cirelli minutes later coming through with the goal in overtime that would send Tampa Bay to the Stanley Cup Finals.
The Lightning will meet the Dallas Stars in the Stanley Cup Finals, which will begin on Saturday night. Puck drop from Edmonton is scheduled for 7:30 PM, with pregame coverage beginning at 6:30 PM on News Radio WFLA.