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 matchup, with the Lightning taking a series lead of three games to two and moving within one victory of advancing the Stanley Cup finals for the second time in four seasons. The Capitals, in the conference final for the first time in the Alex Ovechkin era, have lost three straight games after winning twice on the road to begin the series. Ovechkin scored with one minute 36 seconds remaining, trimming what once was a three-goal lead to one, however Vasiliveskiy made three more saves down the stretch to finish the victory.

Source: New York Times May 20, 2018 04:30 UTC