Vasillevskiy shines late, Lightning hold off Capitals 3-2
TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Lightning are on the brink of a return trip to the Stanley Cup Final.
Coach Jon Cooper and his players say it won’t be easy to close the deal against the Washington Capitals.
“We haven’t won anything yet,” Cooper said Saturday night after Cedric Paquette scored in the opening minute and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 shots to help the Lightning hold off the Caps 3-2 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final.
Ondrej Palat and Ryan Callahan also scored as the home team won for the first time in the best-of-seven matchup, with Tampa Bay taking a 3-2 series lead and moving within one victory of advancing to the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in four seasons.