Ben Bishop kept spurning the New York Rangers as his Tampa Bay teammates were cratering in front of him, but the feeling was something had to give. It finally did with about 13 seconds remaining in the second period.
Bishop turned Stepan aside on a partial breakaway in the opening frame, but the rising forward popped in a rebound for a big 1-0 lead:
(Some have noted that Chris Kreider dislodged Bishop’s stick before the goal was scored.)
Only the blindest Lightning fan would deny that the Rangers had been taking it to Tampa Bay through the first 40 minutes. Still, it’s a manageable deficit for a regular season scoring machine to deal with, so we’ll see how things go in the final 20 minutes of regulation.
SAT through two periods#tblightning 30 (19 on goal, 7 blocked, 4 missed)#NYRangers 48 (22 on goal, 14 blocked, 12 missed)
— Lightning Insider (@Erik_Erlendsson) May 16, 2015