TAMPA, Fla. — Cedric Paquette scored in the opening minute and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 shots to help the Tampa Bay Lightning hold off the Washington Capitals 3-2 on Saturday night in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Ondrej Palat and Ryan Callahan also scored as the home team won for the first time in the best-of-seven series, with the Lightning taking a 3-2 lead and moving within one victory the Stanley Cup finals for the second time in four seasons.
The Capitals, in the conference finals for the first time in the Alex Ovechkin era, have lost three straight after winning twice on the road.
Ovechkin scored with 1:36 remaining, trimming what once was a three-goal deficit to one, but Vasiliveskiy made three more saves down the stretch to finish the victory.
Game 6 is Monday night in Washington.
Washington’s Dmitry Orlov turned the puck over in the neutral zone on the opening shift and Callahan made the Caps pay for the mistake, feeding Paquette for a 1-0 lead just 19 seconds into the game.
Palat’s second goal of the series made it 2-0. Tampa Bay extended the advantage when Callahan scored 33 seconds into the second period.
Evgeny Kuznetsov scored a goal in his fourth straight game to make it 3-1 at 4:21 of the period.
The Capitals kept pressing in the third period, but didn’t break through again until Ovechkin scored his 11th goal this postseason.
NOTES
RANGERS: Boston University’s David Quinn will be hired as head coach of the Rangers, according to multiple reports.
Quinn succeeds Alain Vigneault, who was fired after going 226-147 in five seasons.
Quinn, 51, coached five seasons at Boston University, with a record of 105-67-21. The Terriers reached the national championship game in 2015, losing to Hockey East rival Providence.
BLACKHAWKS: Veteran forward Marian Hossa, 39, said in a newspaper interview in Slovakia that he’s retiring because of health issues.
Hossa missed the entire 2017-18 season because of a progressive skin disorder and side effects of medication to treat it.
He won the Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks in 2010, 2013 and 2015. In his 1,309 NHL games, Hossa had 525 goals and 609 assists.
Bruins: Boston will open the preseason in Shenzhen, China, on Sept. 15 against Calgary, and the teams will play again four days later in Beijing.
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