from Chris Johnston of Sportsnet,

If you’re following this Eastern Conference Final closely, you might as well go ahead and clear your schedule for next Thursday night.

That’s when Game 7 between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning is scheduled.

It’s not currently necessary, but it probably will be.

The way the Lightning responded here in Game 4 all but guaranteed it. They hadn’t played particularly well the previous two games and were backed into a corner. On Friday night, Tampa built a 4-0 lead by the second intermission and gutted through a furious Penguins push over the final 20 minutes to even the series.

“We’re a good character team,” said defenceman Anton Stralman. “I think we know our weaknesses and we know how to change from game to game if something was bad before. We certainly did tonight.

“I thought we upped our game, all over the ice, all three zones. Battle levels, everything.”

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