In Tampa, the New York Rangers’ season came to a an end on Saturday night. Steven Stamkos scored twice in a 2-1 win for the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final.

The Lightning are headed to their third straight Stanley Cup Final appearance.

“It’s going to be tough to get out of the moment and look back and realize what a special group we have here because there’s still some games to be played,” Stamkos said. “You’re still not at the end of your goal, but in saying that, this group is pretty, pretty amazing and pretty special.

“Each guy is just a part of the process. And what makes this team so special and tight and unique is just we don’t care how it gets done. You just need to get it done. Very, very proud of this group.”

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves in the Tampa win.

“When you are in, it’s just sitting up here right now and thinking of the magnitude of going to a third Stanley Cup Final,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “You grew up as a kid, and I was not near good enough to play in this league. But growing up in Canada, you always dreamed about having your name on the Stanley Cup.

“And to get there the first time was, I mean, it was a dream come true. To get there a second time, like the next year, it was like a dream. Like there’s no way we’re going back, and to go a third time. Think about that. And you got to look at the players. And I sit back, and I’m just impressed. I’m impressed by them. It’s impressive what they’ve done.”

Stamkos scored in the middle frame to give the Lighting a 1-0 lead.

Frank Vatrano scored a power play goal in the third period for New York to tie the game, 1-1.

“I don’t know. I feel like denying this right now,” New York forward Mika Zibanejad said. “I don’t honestly have much to say. I’m just … empty. Don’t want it to be over.”

The New York offnse was held in check over the final four losses of their season, scoring just five goals.

“I don’t think we were expecting to score six goals a game after that first one,” Rangers defenseman Adam Fox said. “Two great goalies. I don’t think anyone expected this series to be a ton of goals. We knew special teams were going to play a factor. You want to score more 5-on-5, but we weren’t able to do that. Obviously it hurt us a little bit.”

Stamkos scored the series-winner just 21 seconds after the Rangers had tied the game.

It wasn’t the defense that let the Rangers down, it was squarely on the offense’s failure in the last four games of the series.

“You make it 1-1 late in the third, you’re obviously thinking you’ve got a shot,” Fox said. “We’ve done it before. This time we weren’t able to finish it off. But we battled at the end, tied it, but obviously didn’t get this one.”

Igor Shesterkin made 29 saves in the Rangers loss.

“I thought Igor was outstanding,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. “He gave us a chance to win every night. We got out-chanced in a lot of the games, but he was outstanding. He was our best player all year long and again in this series.”

In New York, the Rangers’ season is now on life support.

After taking the first two games of the Eastern Conference Final, the Rangers offense has evaporated.

On Thursday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning took a 3-1 win and now lead the series 3-2.

Game 6 is in Tampa on Saturday.

Ondrej Palat scored the game-winner with just under two minutes left in the third period.

“We just had a good shift,” Palat said. “There was two minutes left and I went in front of the net and it hit my kneecap. … Great shot by ‘Sergie’.”

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves in the Tampa win.

Mikhail Sergachev had a goal in the middle frame to tie the game, 1-1.

“It’s not like it’s a super-crazy play,” Sergachev said of the winning goal. “It’s just a simple play that we practice all the time. Guys go to the net, D-men shoot the puck. As [Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos] said, ‘You keep doing that more and more and you are going to get rewarded.’ Guys got rewarded tonight.”

Ryan Lindgren was the lone striker for the Rangers, his goal gave New York a 1-0 lead in the second period.

“It’s tough tonight,” New York coach Gerard Gallant said. “It’s a tough night, there’s no doubt. But tomorrow we’ll get on the airplane and we’ll be ready to go play a game in Tampa Bay. It’ll be a battle. They’re a good hockey team. That’s why they’re the Stanley Cup champs. We’re going to have to go in there and play our best game and win a game to give ourselves a chance for Game 7 back here.”

Now the Rangers are behind in a series, where they have played most of the post season so far.

“We just couldn’t seem to get that next goal,” Lindgren said. “We’ve been in this situation before and it seems like we play our best hockey when our backs are against the wall. We’ve just got to go to Tampa and win a game. Take it one game at a time. Draw from those past experiences and go play our best hockey.”

There need to be some desperation, because there is no tomorrow beyond Saturday if they lose.

“We’ve been down 3-2 every series so far,” Rangers forward Andrew Copp said. “We’re going to have to have a level of desperation. I think the confidence of doing it before is bigger and better than having to do it again. I think there’s belief in the room. Played a pretty solid hockey game. … We’re playing pretty good and it’s a really, really tight series so we just have to make that extra play at the end of the game to be the difference.”

Brandon Hagel hit an empty net goal with under a minute left in the game for the 3-1 final

“I think you can always say in a game you can get more, but the chances were there,” defenseman Jacob Trouba said. “The goalie made some good saves. It was a tight game, could go either way, and that’s what makes it more frustrating for us, I think. It’s not like we’re getting the doors blown off us. We’re in these games. We’re right there.”

Igor Shesterkin made 24 saves and really should sue for non-support.

“We played a sound hockey game,” Gallant said. “It’s tough to lose like that at the end.”

In Tampa, Pat Maroon scored early in the first period for the Lightning to set the tone for the entire match as the Bolts evened their series with the New York Rangers, 2-2, after 4-1 win in Game 4.

“We’ve progressively gotten better, and I think we took some more positive steps tonight,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “We had a bit of a layoff, and I think now we’re starting to find our game and now we just have to keep this going in New York.”

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 34 saves in the Lightning win.

“We’ve been desperate the last couple of games,” Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos said. “We knew how important they were to get back in this series. We’ve done it but we can’t sit on our hands and be happy with that. We’ve got to keep moving forward.”

Game 5 is Thursday night in New York.

Artemi Panarin was the striker for the Rangers.

“I think there were moments we were disjointed,” New York forward Chris Kreider said. “I think they did establish a pretty good forecheck and were able to reset pucks on us a lot and keep us in our own zone. That’s when the details matter more.”

Panarin scored off the power play in the third period after Tampa had taken a 3-0 lead.

Nikita Kucherov scored in the middle gran for a 2-0 lead to Tampa, and Stamkos struck early in the third period for the 3-0 lead.

“I think it starts in the [defensive] zone,” Maroon said, “neutral zone, moving more coming back to the [defensemen], supporting them in the neutral zone and getting our five-man rush, and the [defensemen] are jumping up into [the] play. So we’re getting back to our speed game here and find ways to get pucks behind them and go to work like we used to.”

Ondrej Palat added a late empty goal for the 4-1 final.

“Every team is dealing with injuries,” Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba said. “We like the depth of our team. We think we can manage and overcome injuries. It’s not something we’re looking at or thinking about too hard. Do we miss them? Yeah. Do we hope they come back? Yeah. But you’ve got to be able to play without them.”

Igor Shesterkin made 27 saves in the Rangers loss.

“It’s not easy, but we can’t be sad,” Panarin said. “For sure it’s not going to help us. Try to be positive. We have to be positive. We’ve been in a worse spot before, so we’re OK. I hope we do well in [Madison Square] Garden. Our fans, nice to see again. Try to do something more.”

In Tampa, Ondrej Palat hit for the game-winner on Sunday with 48 seconds left in regulation for a 3-2 Lightning win over the New York Rangers.

New York held a 2-0 lead in the middle frame before the Lightning replied with three straight to get back in the series.

The Rangers still lead the Eastern Conference Final, 2-1.

Game 4 in Tuesday in Tampa.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves in the Tampa win.

Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider hit for power play goals in the second period to give the Rangers the 2-0 advantage.

Nikita Kucherov got the Lightning on the board in the second period off a power play strike to close the period trailing 1-2.

Steve Stamkos added an early power play goal in the third period to tie the game 2-2.

The Rangers’ Ryan Strome left the game in the third period with an apparent lower body injury.

Igor Shesterkin made 48 saves in the Rangers loss.