In New York Sunday night, Valtteri Filppula scored in the second period to give the Tampa Bay Lightning all the offense they would need in a 2-0 whitewash of the anemic New York Rangers.
The win gives the Lightning a 3-2 series lead as they can close out the series Tuesday at home.
Ben Bishop made 26 saves for the shutout.
“I think tonight was our hardest game,” Bishop said. “There’s going to be nights where things don’t go your way, and it’s one of those things if you let it bother you, then you’re in trouble. You can’t look at it like a small picture; you’ve got to look at it like the whole year. There’s going to be good nights, bad nights, and it’s just one of those things. For me, [Game 4] was just not the best night, not the best luck. I wasn’t looking too much into it.”
New York went scoreless in four power play attempts and looked dazed most of the night. After scoring 10 goals in two games, the shutout was mystifying.
“Our power play had been getting us some momentum, had been getting us some really good looks,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. “Our execution was a little bit slow tonight on the power play. Because it was slow, it made it easier for them to defend. We didn’t get very many looks on it, and obviously that was a big part of tonight’s game.”
But it was Bishop who out-dueled Henrik Lundqvist in net Sunday; Lundqvist had 20 saves on the night.
“I would say he looked really confident in the net,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “We’ve watched this in two previous series. As the series have gone on and the longer they’ve gone on, he’s elevated his game. It’s when you know he’s back there and he’s playing with that confidence and the way he’s playing the puck, he’s making that first save. He’s not giving up rebounds; he’s just commanding the net.
“We feed off that. We have no doubt how he can play. You don’t, with four teams that are left, you’re not getting here without good goaltending. All great goalies left, and [Bishop] is a top-tier goaltender in this league and he’s shown it.”
Now the Rangers need to find their game and their forwards, especially the ones who are supposed to be scoring big, game-changing goals need to find their game.
“It’s a race to four,” Derek Stepan said. “It doesn’t matter how many games the other team wins, we have to beat them four games. We have to go into their building and find a way to get it done.”
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