*Photo from the Tampa Bay Times*
Colorado leads series 3-2
With their season on the line, the Tampa Bay Lightning did what they had to do. Jan Rutta scored, Ondrej Palat scored the game winning goal, and the Lightning defeated the Colorado Avalanche with a 3-2 victory on Friday night in Denver.
Entering the game trailing 3-1 in the series, the Lightning needed to win in order to keep their season alive. That they did, winning to force a game 6 in the series. Two different skaters had two assist games for the Lightning, and they capitalized when they had to.
Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said that "You're down in in the series, the Cup is in the building, you're in a great environment for the home team. And how do you show gamesmanship? You do everything they just did. You get the lead, you defend, you kill off penalties, score on the power play, and then when you need the big goal at the end, you get it."
Starting the scoring for the Lightning was Rutta, who scored the only goal of the first period, making it 1-0 on his first goal of the playoffs. In the second period, Valeri Nichushkin scored 5:07 into the period, tying the game 1-1 on his 9th goal of the playoffs. On the power play 8:10 into the second, Nikita Kucherov put the Lightning back in front, making it 2-1 after two periods.
In the 3rd period, Cale Makar scored for the Avalanche, tying the game by a 2-2 score 2:31 into the period, scoring his 8th goal of the playoffs with assists from Nichushkin and Devon Toews. With 6:22 left in regulation, Palat scored his 11th goal of the playoffs, putting the Lightning ahead 3-2 with assists from Mikhail Sergachev and Victor Hedman.
Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said of keeping the season alive that "We extend the season and that's what we wanted to do. We talked about one game at a time. It was a grind, but we found a way. Great effort and now we've got to do it again."
Picking up the win in net while facing elimination was Andrei Vasilevskiy, who played well when it was most needed. Vasilevskiy saved 35 of the 37 shots the Avalanche sent at him, which was good for a .946 save percentage in the season extending win.
Back in net for the Avalanche was Darcy Kuemper, who couldn't help his team clinch the Stanley Cup. Kuemper turned aside 26 out of the 29 shots on goal that the Lightning had, recording a .897 save percentage in the loss.
Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog said that "It's not supposed to be easy and it's not going to be easy. We knew that coming into this, we knew that coming into tonight. Vasilevskiy had another good night. We felt good about our game, we tied it up in the third and then obviously they created a slot shot there that squeezes through Kuemps. So, it is what it is. Short memory in the playoffs, and that's what we're going to do."
Up next, game 6 of the series is on Sunday night as the series shifts back to Tampa Bay. There, the Avalanche will look to clinch the Stanley Cup on enemy ice, while the Lightning will look to win again and force a game 7.
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