Tampa: Nikita Kucherov scored at 3:33 of overtime on Wednesday to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 6-5 NHL play-off victory over the New York Rangers.
With the win, the Lightning took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals.
The winners of the series will face the Western Conference champions for the NHL crown in the Stanley Cup finals.
Kucherov carried the puck from the neutral zone up the right wing, then cut towards the middle and beat Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist for the decisive goal.
The six goals allowed by Lundqvist on 40 shots tied a season high.
Ondrej Palat contributed two goals and one assist for the Lightning, who will try to extend their series lead in game four on Friday.
Kucherov, Alex Killorn, Tyler Johnson and Steven Stamkos notched one goal and one assist apiece for Tampa Bay.
Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop allowed a playoff-season high five goals, but his 23 stops proved just enough for the victory.
Jesper Fast scored twice, with Dan Boyle and Ryan McDonagh adding a goal and assist each for the Rangers, who also had a goal from Derick Brassard.
Each team surrendered a two-goal lead in the contest, with Boyle forcing overtime with a goal with 1:56 remaining in regulation.
Mike Babcock, who has been one of the most successful coaches at the NHL for the past decade, was hired as the head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday
Babcock coached the Detroit Red Wings to a Stanley Cup title in 2008 and led Canada to back-to-back Olympic gold medals in Vancouver in 2010 and four years later in Sochi. He is the only coach in history to earn consecutive Olympic golds.
Babcock will become the 30th head coach in the club’s history, Leafs president Brendan Shanahan announced Wednesday.
Canadian sports network TSN reported that the 52-year-old Babcock has agreed to an eight-year contract worth close to $50 million which would make him by far the highest paid head coach in the history of the league.
Babcock was involved in talks with several teams over the past week before deciding to join the Leafs. He replaces Randy Carlyle who was fired in January.
Besides winning the Stanley Cup with the Red Wings, he guided Detroit back to the finals in 2009. He also took Anaheim to the Stanley Cup final in 2003.
— AFP
