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Tampa Bay Strikes In 7 Lightning Advance To Stanley Cup

Posted By: Lisa Donovan on 5/30/2015

This game was scoreless for the first two periods. This game had excellent defense from both sides. Tampa Bay brought a lot of blocked shots and hits to this contest in game 7 of this series.

The Lightning only shot 6 shots on goal in the third period after 19 shots on goal through 2 periods. Two of the Lightning's first three shots on goal in the third period were goals that gave the Lightning. Alex Killorn gave Tampa Bay the 1-0 lead before Ondrej Palat put the Lightning up 2-0.

The Rangers shot 11 of their 22 shots on goal in the third period. Goaltender Ben Bishop was brilliant in the third period and deserved to be the 2nd star of the game even though he was the first star of the game.

The first star of the game should have been defenseman Victor Hedman not goalie Ben Bishop. Hedman played 25 minutes and 43 seconds in a 60 minute game. Hedman had 1 shot on goal, 2 hits, 3 blocked shots, and 2 take aways. The Rangers only had 5 turnovers via take aways the entire game, and Hedman was responsible for two of those five take aways. Hedman also had a +1 +/- ratio along with anchoring a PK Unit that went 2/2 when penalty killing, and what's even more convincing about that was the fact that the Lightning did not have a single power play the entire game. When you take all of these variables into account, Hedman deserves 1st star of the game over Bishop. At the end of the day, the NHL only cares about two stats besides wins and those stats are goals and saves.

While Hedman did not win 1st star of the game, his team is moving on and that's what matters. Hedman, Bishop, and captain Steve Stamkos who posed with Bill Daily after the Lightning won the Prince of Whales Trophy are moving on to play either Anaheim or Chicago.

Congrats on winning the Eastern Conference Tampa Bay. The Lightning are now only 4 wins away from winning their first Stanley Cup since 2004 when the Lightning defeated the Calgary Flames in 7 games.

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