The NHL conference finals series have been marked by failure to capitalize on momentum from solid wins. This was evidenced Tuesday night when the Tampa Bay Lightning let their Game 5 mojo slip away in a 5-2 loss on home ice to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Matt Murray returned to the Pens’ net and made 28 saves for the win.
“He doesn’t get rattled,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said of Murray. “If he lets a goal in, he just continues to compete. … Usually it takes years to acquire that, and to have it at such a young age is impressive. That’s always impressed us about him. Certainly it’s impressed me since I’ve got to know him and watch him as a goaltender but also as a person.”
Murray was particularly busy in the third period when he stopped 17 saves.
“It’s not my job to worry about [coach’s] decision,” Murray said. “It’s my job to be ready if my name is called, and if my name is called, to go out and play my heart out and compete.”
Brian Boyle had both goals for the Lightning who now must regroup and head to Pittsburgh for Game 7 Thursday night.
Tampa Bay is no stranger to Game 6 losses, this was their third straight.
“We had a great chance tonight and kind of tiptoed around it a little bit,” Boyle said. “We were tentative and weren’t aggressive. We weren’t on top. We weren’t skating.”
Pittsburgh got goals from Phil Kessel, Kris Letang, Sidney Crosby, Bryan Rust and Nick Bonino.
“They played better than us for two periods,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “All their players pretty much played better than all our players for 40 minutes. All our players played probably better than them for 20 minutes. We have to play better. That’s the bottom line. Usually the team that plays better wins.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy took the loss on 30 saves.
“We kind of pride ourselves on being a pretty darn good defensive team” Cooper said. “I don’t know how we finished at the end of the year, but I’m pretty sure we were in the top five all year. And aside from a couple of these games here, we’ve kind of been like that in the playoffs.
“It’s tough to go through a whole playoff run and just give up one or two goals every single night. We had some great chances, there’s no question. Have we probably given up more chances than we’d ever like to? We have.
“Tip your hat to them too. We’re down to the Final Four, and we’re heading to Game 7.”
Game 7 is set for Pittsburgh’s Consol Energy Center (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports).
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