Palat leads Lightning past Avalanche to keep Stanley Cup run alive
CBC
The Stanley Cup was in the building and just waiting to be paraded around the ice.
Pack it up. It's heading back to Tampa Bay.
The resilient Lightning spoiled Colorado's party to stay in the hunt for a third straight Stanley Cup title, beating the Avalanche 3-2 on Friday night in Game 5.
"That's what good teams do — you find a way," Lightning forward Corey Perry said. "Keep plugging along. This is fun. This is what hockey's all about, different guys stepping up at different times."
Game 6 is Sunday night in Tampa. The Lightning trail the best-of-seven series 3-2.
"Listen, this is a huge challenge for us," Lightning forward Pat Maroon said. "An exciting challenge, too. You've got to be excited for this challenge and embrace it."
The Cup was all shined up and ready for the moment — almost beckoning to the Avalanche from the side. It's back on the road for the Avalanche, where they're 8-1 so far in their playoff run.
WATCH l Palat's winner keeps Lightning's Stanley Cup three-peat bid alive:
"We have belief in our room that we can win every game we go out and play," defenceman Devon Toews said. "We feel like we had a decent game tonight, pretty good game. Obviously it wasn't enough tonight."
Nikita Kucherov and defenceman Jan Rutta also scored for the Lightning. Valeri Nichushkin and Cale Makar had goals for Colorado. Makar's third-period tally bounced off the skate of Erik Cernak and through the pads of Vasilevskiy to tie it at 2.
That set the stage for Palat, whose shot slipped through the pads of Darcy Kuemper. It was Palat's 16th career go-ahead playoff goal, which trails only Brayden Point (18) in franchise history.
"I thought I played it well, slid over," Kuemper said. "It just found a little hole."
WATCH | Should Kadri's goal have counted?:
Tampa Bay regrouped after an emotional Game 4 loss at home on a overtime goal from Colorado forward Nazem Kadri. The Lightning felt the Avalanche might have had too many players on the ice on the winner.
