Steven Stamkos scores twice to send Lightning to third straight Stanley Cup Final

The Rangers started to get feisty in the second period, with a couple of big – and probably penalty-worthy – hits in the frame. The first was a massive hit from Jacob Trouba on Corey Perry that got a premature whistle due to the referees thinking Perry was hurt, but he got up quickly and appeared to be fine.

The second came from Alexis Lafreniere, who had a big morale boost being moved up to the top line, with a hit that clipped Victor Hedman’s head. Hedman went to the dressing room shortly after, and didn’t return for the rest of the period, a massive blow to the Lightning’s blue line.

The Lightning responded with offense instead of physicality, as Steven Stamkos took a harmless 1-on-3 situation to gain the offensive zone, and then threw the puck on net, which found its way past Shesterkin. After the play of Shesterkin in this game and the series, it was a shocking goal for him to allow.

The Bolts got some good news and bad news to start the third period. The good news was that Hedman returned to the bench to start the period, but the bad news was that Erik Cernak had to leave after blocking a shot. Like Hedman though, Cernak also returned later in the period.

Both teams were frantic to get that next goal in the third. The Lightning wanted it to breathe easier as they looked to move on to the Cup Final, and the Rangers wanted this game tied, but both goalies stood tall, making incredible saves.

The Rangers got a couple of power plays in the third, including a costly one from Stamkos, and New York’s power play made them pay with a quick goal off the faceoff from Frank Vatrano.

Lightning coach Jon Cooper didn’t hide his feelings towards Stamkos after that goal, but the captain took it to heart and responded almost immediately. Just 21 seconds later, Stamkos found a way to sneak one past Shesterkin to give the Lightning back the lead.

The Rangers tried their hardest to get that tying goal again, but they couldn’t beat Vasilevskiy a second time, and their Cinderella run came to an end. The Lightning take the game 2-1, and they win the series 4-2.

With that, the Lightning advance to their third straight Stanley Cup Final and win their 11th straight playoff series, the first team to do anything like this in the salary cap era. They’ll face the Colorado Avalanche, who swept the Edmonton Oilers in their Western Conference Final, and are 12-2 in these playoffs. It’ll be a Cup Final to behold, with two of the best teams in the league finally facing off for the Stanley Cup.

For the Rangers, it will be a tight offseason. They find themselves with just above $12.5M in cap space, and they have Ryan Strome, Andrew Copp, Tyler Motte, Frank Vatrano, and Justin Braun as unrestricted free agents, and Kaapo Kakko and Alexandar Georgiev as restricted free agents.