In Raleigh, Brayden Point scored his goal of the playoffs in the middle frame on 
Tuesday to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 1-0 lead over the Hurricanes.
That was all the scoring the Lightning would really need as Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 saves in a 2-0 win over the Cane in Game 5.
“The road is a tough place to win, and you’ve got to tip your hat to the guys,” Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper said. “They won three games in this building, and it’s not easy. A big thing is experience. We’ve been down this road, there’s a formula in place and you need the players to execute. I’m proud of them and I’m proud of their effort.”
The win clinched the Central Division title for the Bolts in a 4-1 series win.
Point’s goal came off the power play at 4:06 of the second period.
“I go to the forehand and the goalie’s got me, and I make a move to the backhand,” Point said. “I think it’s just kind of a reaction. I don’t think I’m thinking too much on it.”
Tampa now awaits the winner of the Boston Bruins/New York Islanders series for the semifinals series between the East and Central Divisions.
“Right now, the No. 1 takeaway is we have to get a little better,” Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Our talent is close, but we got beat in the talent area. In the big areas — the power plays, PKs — that’s the areas where we have to get better. We were good all year, but when you get up against the best, that’s a great comparison. That’s how it’s done.”
It was Vasilevskiy’s second shutout of the playoffs this season.
“He’s done that a lot for us this year,” Point said. “It was a pretty messy power play. They were all over us, pressuring us hard, giving us a lot of fits. We get one chance and we were able to make it count. Just another great game for ‘Vasy’ tonight.”
Ross Colton scored near the midway point of the third period to ice the win for the Lightning.
“You’re trying to close a team out, they played fantastic,” Point said. “I think that game could have gone either way. We were lucky to get that one.”
The Islanders lead their series with the Bruins, 3-2.
“We have to be better,” Carolina’s Jordan Staal said. “We got beat in a lot of different aspects of that series. I think throughout the lineup, including myself, there are guys who need to be better and we need to be more committed to our system and play stronger. I think we’re right there, we’re very close, but a very good team obviously got the better of us.”
Alex Nedeljkovic made 23 saves in the loss.
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