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.”
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