Lundqvist, Brassard lead Rangers' rout of Lightning to force Game 7

Henrik Lundqvist stopped 36 shots and Derick Brassard notched three goals and five points to keep the Rangers alive with a 7–3 Game 6 win over the Lightning.

Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist reported to Amalie Arena ready to play from the moment the puck dropped on Game 6. Most of his teammates, true to form for New Yorkers, showed up about 40 minutes late. But, in the spirit of better late than never, the Rangers did exactly enough to force a final showdown against Tampa Bay, to bring this series to a do-or-die Game 7.

Thanks to a five-goal explosion in the third period, New York will now play at Madison Square Garden for the chance to return to the Stanley Cup finals. The Rangers have been virtually unbeatable in elimination games on home ice since 2008. The Lightning, meanwhile, will have two days to either ponder or forget a stretch of 7:14 in the third when they were outshot 8-1 and their goalie Ben Bishop gave up three goals to extend what seemed like a tenuous 2–1 Rangers lead at the time. In the end, when center Derick Brassard scored on the empty net to cap off his first career hat trick, New York took command of the game, pulling out the 7–3 win on Tuesday night.

“We wanted a chance, and we got a chance,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault told the media after Game 6. “We talked in between the second and third about not sitting back and making more plays with the puck.”

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The stretch during the third period was the best New York has played all postseason long, a reminder of the team that won the Presidents’ Trophy with 113 points this season. Taking advantage of some careless Lightning turnovers, the Rangers ultimately chased Bishop out of his net. The solid defensive structure the Bolts had shown off in Game 5 seemed like a distant memory.

“We gave up more scoring chances and turned over more pucks [in that third-period stretch] than we did in all of Game 5 combined,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper lamented during his postgame press conference.

The Lightning were doomed by their start of the third period. The Rangers, however, would have been doomed much earlier if not for the sublime play of their netminder. Without Lundqvist, they likely would have watched their season end. His mastery in these situations—he has won 15 of his last 18 games when facing elimination—can often change the equation completely. With 28 saves in the first 40 minutes, a dozen of which would be categorized as excellent, Lundqvist gave his team the opportunity to repay their debt to him.

• Complete Game 6 recap | box score

The 10 Greatest NHL Conference Finals

10. Islanders vs. Flyers 1975

Bruce Bennett Studios/Getty Images

After the Isles, in their first ever playoffs appearance, made history by dumping the Penguins as only the second NHL team to come back from a three games to none deficit, they almost did it to the Flyers. They were shut out twice in dropping the first three games of the Campbell Conference finals and needed OT in Game 4 to avoid being swept. They won the next two, with Clark Gillies famously taking on Philly's infamous enforcer Dave "The Hammer" Schultz, to extend the series and enrich heart specialists in Philly, but the defending Cup champion Flyers were too much in Game 7. Rick MacLeish scored two first-period goals to power a 4-1 victory.

9. Bruins vs. Lightning 2011

Elsa/Getty Images

The Lightning battled back from deficits of two-games-to-one and three-games-to-two, forcing Game 7 with a rally—Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards totaled three goals and eight points—and a gutty defensive effort in a 5-4 win. No penalties were called during the finale in Boston as goalies Tim Thomas of the Bruins and Dwayne Roloson of the Lightning dueled save for save. Nathan Horton gave the B’s the 1-0 win by scoring with 7:33 left in the third period.

8. Hurricanes vs. Sabres 2006

Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

Playing under new post-lockout rules, these two speedy dark horse teams went seven games with five decided by one goal. Momentum swung wildly. Games 5 and 6 went to overtime and Game 7 was forced by Danny Briere’s power play goal in a nail-biting 2-1 win by injury-riddled Buffalo. In the finale, the Hurricanes rallied from a 2-1 deficit as rookie goalie Cam Ward made 22 saves, captain Rod Brind’Amour broke a 2-2 tie by beating Ryan Miller at 11:22 of the third period, and the Carolina hung on to win 4-2 with Jason Williams adding an insurance goal in the final minute.

7. Red Wings vs. Avalanche 1996

Steve Dykes/Rocky Mountain News/AP

The Red Wings came in as heavy favorites, having won an NHL-record 62 games during the regular season, but it was the second-ranked Avalanche who advanced and went on to win the Cup. The six-game set was defined by a vicious head shot delivered by Claude Lemieux against Detroit's defenseless Kris Draper in the first period of the finale. Colorado won the game 4-1, but the gruesome injuries suffered by Draper provided the Franz Ferdinand moment that ignited an epic rivalry between the two Western Conference foes.

6. Rangers vs. Islanders 1979

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This went only six, but the rivalry's intensity earns it a spot among the all-time greats. The Isles, led by Bryan Trottier and Mike Bossy, were the top regular season team and expected to easily handle their arch-rivals but they twice needed OT to get to Game 5, which the Rangers won, 4-3. In the decisive Game 6, Ron Greschner and Don Murdoch scored 3:42 apart in the second period and goalie John Davidson continued to shine while leading the Rangers to a clinching 2-1 win that handed the Isles a bitter defeat that inspired the birth of their dynasty the next season.

5. Kings vs. Maple Leafs 1993

Bruce Bennett Studios/Getty Images; David E. Klutho for Sports Illustrated

Peak Wendel Clark vs. the Great One at his best. The seven games were Old Testament violent, the hockey intense and emotional. Toronto's star forward was a wrecking ball, winning an in an epic tilt with enforcer Marty McSorley in Game 1, then scoring a memorable hat trick in Game 6 that could have clinched the series. Instead a missed high sticking call on Gretzky gave the Kings life and kept him in the game long enough to score the OT winner, setting up Game 7 in Toronto. Gretzky again rose to the occasion, netting a hatty of his own in L.A.'s 5-4 win. He later called his performance the best of his NHL career.

4. Red Wings vs. Avalanche 1997

Tom Pidgeon/AP

This wasn't so much a series as a resumption of hostilities. Picking up where their bloody regular season war had left off, the Wings and Avs went at each other for six brutal games. Detroit was the better of the two this time around, building up a 3-1 lead highlighted by a 6-0 Game 4 win that saw coaches Marc Crawford and Scotty Bowman almost come to blows between the benches. The Avs stormed back to win Game 5 by an identical 6-0 score but that's where their momentum ended. Sergei Fedorov returned from an injury midway through the game to score the winning goal as Detroit eliminated the champs, 3-1.

3. Rangers vs. Devils 1994

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Mark Messier's legendary vow, an epic goaltending duel between Mike Richter and Martin Brodeur, one of hockey's most enduring calls: “Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!” The Blueshirts and Devils swapped leads early in the series until New Jersey took control with a 4-1 beatdown in Game 5. The loss prompted Messier to famously guarantee a Rangers win in Game 6, one he personally delivered with three goals and four points. The finale was a tight-checking affair that extended to 2-OT before Stephane Matteau swung out from behind New Jersey’s net and punched New York's ticket to the Cup finals, beating Brodeur on the wraparound.

2. Canadiens vs. Bruins 1979

John Iacono for Sports Illustrated

Arguably the greatest series in hockey's greatest rivalry. Montreal had vanquished Boston in the Cup finals the prior two years and was it the height of its Flying Frenchmen glory. The Bruins were immersed in their Lunchpail AC ethic. The home team won the first six games, setting up an unforgettable clincher at the Montreal Forum. The B’s carried a 4-3 lead late into the third and were on the verge of victory when linesman John D'Amico made the most famous call in NHL history: Boston, too many men on the ice. Guy Lafleur tied it on the power play and Yvon Lambert scored the OT winner, sending the Habs on their way to a fourth straight Cup.

1. Blackhawks vs. Kings 2014

David E. Klutho for Sports Illustrated

The rematch of the 2013 West finals featured four one-goal games. Up 3-1 in the series, the Kings rallied to send Game 5 into double OT. On the brink, the Cup champion Blackhawks were rescued by Michal Handzus at 2:04. In Game 6, the Kings led 3-2, but Patrick Kane, who scored twice, set up the knotter and then netted the winner with 3:45 left in the third period as Chicago prevailed 4-3. Game 7 was a riveting classic in which the Kings came back twice to set up a breathlessly intense OT full of non-stop action that was ended by L.A. defenseman Alec Martinez’s deflected wrist shot from the blue line at the 5:47 mark.

After all, he had built up a sizable amount of credit in those two periods. There was Lundqvist’s early save on Lightning winger Ryan Callahan from the slot, getting the butt-end of his stick on the shot. Or the toe-save on Steven Stamkos, who was waiting on the doorstep during a Tampa Bay power play. Early in the second, Lundqvist made a pair of stops, diving laterally to deny a rebound chance by Tyler Johnson. The King kept the puck out when J.T. Brown barreled into his crease with it, and when Brian Boyle snapped a one-timer from close range. He didn’t get caught mesmerized as Johnson toe-dragged through a defender and got a shot up high. No, the only goal that Lundqvist allowed while the game was still close was a Callahan breakaway late in the first period, a play sprung by a brilliant 80-foot stretch pass by Tampa Bay defenseman Anton Stralman.

By the midpoint of the game, the Lightning had outshot the Rangers by nearly two-to-one and Lundqvist looked to be the primary reason why New York held the lead. The secondary reason was Brassard, who opened the game with a goal at 3:36 and then earned the primary assist on a score by defenseman Keith Yandle 12 minutes later. With a career-high five points, the first-line center now leads the Rangers with nine goals and 16 points. An offensive spark going into Game 7 would be welcome for New York—and especially for Lundqvist.  

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For Tampa Bay, a young group realized just how quickly a game can change, how only a few moments of panic can alter the course of events dramatically. “They’ve played some unreal hockey to get us this far,” Cooper said. “[But] we showed if we’re not going to play the proper way, a really good hockey team is going to beat [us], and that’s what they did. It’s a lesson learned.”

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