Returning to the Amalie Arena in Tampa for game five, the Tampa Bay Lightning needed just one victory over the New Jersey Devils in order to move through to the second round of the Stanley Cup after their victory on Wednesday night.
The first period, was good clean hockey where both teams managed to stay out of the penalty box. As time ticked on and the first period was approaching the half way point, Anthony Cirelli passed from behind the Devils goal line out to Mikhail Sergachev in the face off circle. Sergachev beat Cory Schneider, putting the puck over the netminder’s 
shoulder and in to the top of the net.
The second period, while there were no goals – despite Tampa managing eighteen shots on Schneider to the Devils four – the Devils penalty box saw plenty of action, with five penalties all being given to the visitors. Tampa, however, once more managed to keep anyone from the sin bin, although unable to convert any of the chances they were given.
Lighting took their one and only penalty of the game in the third, after Cirelli’s high stick against Blake Coleman, however, they kept tight in front of their goal and didn’t allow the Devils to use their advantage.
With almost twelve and a half minutes gone in the third, Tampa managed to push their lead further, Steven Stamkos sending the puck from deep in the New Jersey zone out to Anton Stralman out at the blue line. Stralman moved towards along the blue line towards the middle but couldn’t find a gap so slipped it out to Nikita Kucherov near the boards. As Kucherov followed Stralman’s line, he saw a gap and fired the puck towards the goal. Schneider’s outstretched glove missed it by millimetres, and the Lighting were 2-0 in the lead.
With exactly three minutes left in the game, the Devils received a lifeline when Taylor Hall crossed the puck to Will Butcher, who knocked it back to Kyle Palmieri returning to the action with a new stick after breaking one. Palmieri had a huge shot from out at the blue line, which took a minor deflection off Patrick Maroon’s stick as the puck passed through traffic, closing the score to 2-1.
With just over two minutes on the clock, and trying to push the game to overtime, the Devils pulled Schneider from the goal. With barely five seconds left on the clock, Ryan McDonagh hit the puck out of the Lightning zone, and Ryan Callahan chased it down the ice, managing to stay a step ahead of the Devils defence and flicked it in to the empty net with just two seconds left.
Schneider stopped thirty five of the thirty seven shots he faced, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped twenty six of the twenty seven sent against him, earning Vasilevskiy the star of the game.
Tampa now advance to the second round, where they will play the winner from the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs, with Boston currently leading the series 3-2.
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