Ondrej Palat: ALOT Of Late 3rd Goals, His 3rd Such, Semis On, Lifts T.B. Into Home 6th, Trailing (3-2)

Ondrej Palat, who as cited here, after Tampa Bay advanced to the final with a game 6 win, had two goals in the last 90 seconds to win semis games 3 and 5 vs the Rangers, scored with 6:22 remaining in the third period, lifting the two time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning (3-2) at Colorado (Avalanche) forcing #6 in Tampa Sunday night. The ‘Lanche still lead the final three games to two.

Jan Rutta opened for T.B, which has not trailed in regulation time for 3 straight games after being routed in #2 and trailing in that tilt for nearly 58 minutes.

Nikita Kucherov scored on a 4 on 3 power play as the Lightning regained the lead in the second period.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 35 shots for the Lightning, who are now (4-0) facing elimination since they were “shockwaved” out of the 2019 ‘offs, being swept in 4 straight, by the Columbus Blue Jackets.

In more than two thirds of the 22 final rounds in this century/at least call it the “two thousands,” 15 times a team has staved off elimination at least once (it did not happen in ’02, ’07, ’10,’13,’15, ’17 and ’18).

Ondrej Palat, pictured above.