Lightning Strike Late to Take Game 5, Lead Series 3-2
Heading into Game 5 in New York, Tampa Bay had all of the momentum - winning games 3 and 4 at home. The Rangers, however, haven't lost at Madison Square Garden since the first week of May. The first period was tight-checking, low shooting, and ended scoreless.
Ryan Lindgren got the scoring started halfway through the second period.
Mikhail Sergachev answered before the end of the period with a tally of his own.
The Rangers and Lightning were tied heading into the third period. Both teams had defensemen temporairily injured: Ryan Lindgren for the Rangers and Ryan McDonough for the Rangers.
Jacob Trouba attempted to throw one of his trademark hits on Ondrej Palat. Palat was able to just barely duck out of the way.
Palat scored, for the second time of the series, the go-ahead goal with 1:46 remaining in the game.
Brandon Hagel scored the empty net goal to seal the deal.
At the end of the game, Nikita Kucherov and Adam Fox got into it, which led to a small brawl. Captain Steven Stamkos and youngster Alexis Lafreniere dropped the gloves after the final whistle.
Tensions are running high as this series shifts back to Tampa Bay. The Bolts are heading home with a 3-2 series lead. Game 6 is Saturday evening at 8pm EST.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Kyle Connor | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Alex Tuch | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Owen Power | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Michael Bunting | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Drew Helleson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jirí Kulich | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Isac Lundestrom | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Vladislav Namestnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nino Niederreiter | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Gabriel Vilardi | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Leo Carlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ross Johnston | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Evgeni Malkin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Morrissey | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Perfetti | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Bryan Rust | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mark Scheifele | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Trevor Zegras | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 20 | 17 | 3 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||