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For the second year in a row, and for the third time in the last six seasons, the Tampa Bay Lightning have advanced beyond the second round of action and will dance in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Led by a strong start headlined by goals from
Victor Hedman (unassisted) and
Brian Boyle (helpers to Matt Carle and Cedric Paquette) in the first period, the Bolts steamrolled the New York Islanders in a 4-0 Game 5 final, which clinched the series 4-1 for T.B., at Amalie Arena on Sunday.
The Lightning extended their lead to 3-0 early in the second period behind a power-play goal from Hedman, and though the Isles put up a fight (in a literal sense more so than a scoreboard sense), they remained without a goal through 40 minutes of play against Tampa Bay netminder Ben Bishop.
Tampa Bay scored their fourth and final goal of the contest with
Nikita Kucherov’s strike midway through the period, and it would be more than enough for Bishop on the night.
The 6-foot-7 Lightning ace finished the night with a perfect 28-of-28 night in the crease.
Random thoughts and notes
- If there’s one thing that’s favored the Isles in this series, it’s been their starts. So when the Islanders did not get that when they failed to score on an early game power play and finished the period in an 0-2 hole, you just had a feeling that this was going to be Tampa Bay’s game for the taking. And it was. The Lightning just straight-up took the fight out of the Isles, and made it look easy in the process.
- What a series for Hedman. Two games removed from his fantastic three-point Game 3, the towering defender came through with two goals in this one, and in doing so became just the third T.B. d-man to score two goals in a playoff game (Paul Ranger accomplished the feat in 2006, Pavel Kubina in 2011). And Hedman’s eight points (four goals, four assists) are the most by any Lightning d-man in a series.
- So, this team has officially overachieved, right? I mean, maybe not from where you expected them to be back on Day 1 of the regular season, but think about how every little bit of hope you had went out the window when both Anton Stralman and Steven Stamkos went down right before the playoffs? You thought an advance to the second round would be the best case scenario, didn’t you? It’s OK to admit it. But on the back of Bishop, and with help from heroes of last spring and grizzled vets, the Bolts are back to the third round, and just a little bit closer to getting those guys back in the lineup. Gigantic.
- Another series, and another series-clinching shutout from Ben Bishop. With four to his name in his NHL career, he’s now just one away from matching Chris Osgood for the most series-clinching shutouts in NHL history. ‘Til then, he’s only tied with Martin Brodeur and Jacques Plante. Just a coupla nobodies.
Up next
The Bolts will play either the Pittsburgh Penguins or Washington Capitals. Either should be an incredibly entertaining series, but if you want a real barnburner, you’d like to see the Pens, as these teams combined for some straight-up wonderful -- albeit messy to a purist -- hockey in the regular season.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.
Tampa Bay Lightning Blogger • 
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