Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

NHL Short Notes

05/25/2015 at 11:12am EDT

BISHOP, STAMKOS LEAD LIGHTING TO 3-2 SERIES LEAD
Ben Bishop stopped all 26 shots he faced and the Lightning scored twice in the second period backed by 1-1—2 from captain Steven Stamkos to take a 3-2 series lead over the Rangers in the Eastern Conference Final.



* The Lightning, who have now won five of their last six visits to Madison Square Garden (regular season and playoffs) dating to Jan. 14, 2014 (2-1 W), sit one win away from reaching the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in franchise history. The club’s previous appearance was in 2004, when they defeated the Calgary Flames in seven games to capture the franchise’s first Stanley Cup.

* After surrendering five goals in each of his previous two starts, Bishop made 26 saves to blank the Rangers and improve to 11-7 in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 2.08 goals-against average, .922 save percentage and two shutouts.

* According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Bishop is only the third goaltender in NHL history to record a playoff shutout after allowing at least five goals in each of the previous two games of the same series. The others to do so were Nordiques goaltenderDan Bouchard on April 11, 1981 (Game 3 of PRE vs. PHI) and Canadiens netminderCarey Price on April 21, 2008 (Game 7 of CQF vs. BOS).

* Elias adds that before Bishop in Game 5, the last goaltender to shut out the Rangers in the Conference Finals or Stanley Cup Final at Madison Square Garden was Kings netminder Jonathan Quick, who stopped all 32 shots he faced on June 9, 2014 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final (3-0 W). Prior to Quick, the last goaltender to do so was Boston's Gerry Cheevers, who stopped all 33 shots he faced on May 11, 1972 in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final (3-0 W).

* Bishop joined Nikolai Khabibulin (five playoff shutouts w/ TBL) as the only goaltenders in Lightning franchise history to post multiple playoff shutouts. Bishop also joined Khabibulin as the only goaltenders in franchise history to post a shutout in the Conference Finals or Stanley Cup Final. Khabibulin stopped all 29 shots he faced on May 31, 2004 in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final at CGY (1-0 W).

* With the win, Bishop improved to 11-2-0 with three shutouts in 13 career decisions versus the Rangers (regular season and playoffs).

* Stamkos (1-1—2) assisted on Valtteri Filppula’s eventual game-winning goal, then added his seventh of the postseason on a power-play to record his fifth multi-point game of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Three of those multi-point efforts have come during his current four-game goal/point streak (4-3—7).

* Elias says that Stamkos’ four-game goal streak has matched a Lightning franchise record for consecutive games with at least one goal in a playoff year, originally set byMartin St. Louis in 2003 and equaled by Vincent Lecavalier in 2007.

* Elias also notes that Stamkos is the first player to score goals in four straight games of a playoff series against the Rangers since Mario Lemieux scored in all five games of Pittsburgh’s Eastern Conference Semifinal victory over New York in 1996.

* Filppula opened the scoring in the second period with his third goal of the postseason. The marker stood as his fifth career game-winning goal in the playoffs and first as a member of the Lightning. He has recorded 3-7—10 in 18 games this postseason.

* Ondrej Palat (0-1—1) and Nikita Kucherov (0-1—1) also registered assists for the Lightning who boast five of the top 10 scorers in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs.


LOOSE PUCKS
The Lightning improved to 8-0 in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs when leading after two periods...The Rangers have allowed two goals or fewer in 13 of 17 playoff games this year, including 12 of their last 15 games...Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist made 20 saves, including an incredible glove save on Steven Stamkos, but fell to 10-7 in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 2.06 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage...Rangers defenseman Marc Staal skated in his 85th career playoff game and tied Don Maloney for third on the franchise’s all-time list. He also passed Ron Greschner for sole possession of second on the franchise’s all-time list for playoff games among defensemen…ICYMI: A Rangers fan had a portrait of Henrik Lundqvist shaved into his head.

SNEAK PEEK AT MONDAY’S ACTION
All Times Eastern
Chicago @ Anaheim, series tied 2-2, 9:00 p.m., NBCSN, CBC, TVA
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DUCKS, BLACKHAWKS LOOK FOR EDGE IN WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL
After a dramatic Game 4 that saw the Ducks and Blackhawks combine for six goals in the third period – including three in 37 seconds by Anaheim - before Chicago’s Antoine Vermette scored the game-winning goal in double-overtime, the teams will face-off in Game 5 tonight in Anaheim with the series knotted at two games apiece. Games 2-4 of the series have all been decided by a one-goal margin, with Game 2 (3OT) and Game 4 (2OT) – both Chicago victories – needing multiple extra frames to decide a winner.

the above information was provided by the NHL PR department

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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