Tampa Bay fought from a 2-0 deficit to come back and win Game 3.
Tampa Bay Lightning winger Ondrej Palat played the hero on Sunday in Game 3’s victory over the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Palat took a pass from Nikita Kucherov and got his shot past Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin with about 42 seconds remaining in the game. Palat’s score proved to be the game-winner in the comeback 3-2 victory. It was Palat’s sixth goal of the postseason.
New York now leads the series against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions 2-1.
The Rangers got off to a 2-0 lead in the second period. Mika Zibanejad scored his 10th goal of the postseason and about two minutes later Chris Kreider would add his 10th.
Kucherov scored at the halfway point of the second and went into the third down 2-1.
Longtime Lightning great Steven Stamkos tied the game more than 1 minute into the third period on assists from Kucherov and Corey Perry. Kucherov added his third point of the game with an assist on the Palat goal.
Tampa Bay was bound to get some goals past Shesterkin. The Lightning had 51 shots on goal during the game. The Rangers only put 30 shots on goal against Andrei Vasilevskiy.
The Lightning were on the brink of going down 3-0 in the series but their win, on their home ice, puts the team right back into the series.
Game 4 of the conference finals is set for Tuesday night.
