The Pittsburgh Penguins played with fire late in Game 6, but they also showed plenty of fire in beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2.
With that, this thrilling Eastern Conference Final will go the distance with Game 7 on Thursday.
There are at least a few “What if?” scenarios to consider, especially for the Lightning.
What if that offside goal counted?
Jonathan Drouin played some fantastic hockey on Tuesday, yet his most memorable moment came via something that ultimately “didn’t happen.” An offside call on a goal review kept a 1-0 lead from happening for Tampa Bay:
Instead, the Penguins poured it on during the first period and eventually went up 1-0. They then carried that momentum over through the second period, adding two more goals to go up 3-0 heading into the final frame.
What if Tampa Bay played more like they did in the third period?
The difference between the level of play in the first 40 minutes and the final frame were night-and-day.
Now, you can make a chicken-and-the-egg argument here. Did the Penguins take their feet off the gas with that lead? Maybe Jon Cooper finally unleashed the hounds when the Lightning were facing a big deficit?
Pens are on 🔥. Lightning seem to have had theirs extinguished. #PITvsTBL https://t.co/9zecFXoQsu pic.twitter.com/pTD5MRODo5
— hockeystats.ca (@HockeyStatsCa) May 25, 2016
score effects!! 🙃 Who's up for game 7? #PITvsTBL https://t.co/9zecFXoQsu pic.twitter.com/ritybfIVVW
— hockeystats.ca (@HockeyStatsCa) May 25, 2016
Maybe it’s a combination of those factors; either way, the Bolts couldn’t come all the way back even after making it interesting. At one point the game was 3-2 before a Bryan Rust breakaway goal and an empty-netter put things out of reach.
Thank you for stopping the stress, @rustyyy_92. You don't know what it means to all of us. pic.twitter.com/8cLKVsJBmm
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) May 25, 2016
Both Matt Murray and Andrei Vasilevskiy faced plenty of tough chances and came through more often than not. We’ll see if there are any goal controversy rumblings, but each netminder came through at times tonight.
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Now the series shifts back to Pittsburgh for Game 7 with a Stanley Cup Final on the line. Excited and/or nervous yet?