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Penguins survive late Lightning surge to force Game 7

TAMPA, Fla. -The Pittsburgh Penguins are headed home for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final.

Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist, and Phil Kessel, Kris Letang, Bryan Rust and Nick Bonino also scored Tuesday night in a 5-2 victory that evened the best-of-seven series at three games.

Game 7 is Thursday night, with the Penguins hoping to reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2009 and the Lightning looking to advance to the Cup Final for the second straight year.

Crosby assisted on Kessel's 5-on-3 power-play goal in the opening period and skated around Tampa Bay defenseman Anton Stralman into the clear before sending a wrist shot between goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy's legs for a 3-0 lead in the final minute of the second period.

Rookie goaltender Matt Murray returned to the lineup after being replaced as the starter for Game 5 by Marc-Andre Fleury, but his 10th playoff victory did not come without a bit of suspense.

Brian Boyle scored twice in the third period for Tampa Bay, with one of the goals bouncing off Kessel before getting past Murray, who finished with 28 saves. The second score drew the Lightning within one goal with 7:17 remaining.

Rust's breakaway goal gave Pittsburgh breathing room and Bonino added an empty-netter to finish it off.

Kessel's goal was his team-leading ninth of the playoffs. Crosby had the primary assist, his first point since delivering game-winners in Games 2 and 3, and Evgeni Malkin also had an assist to extend his point streak to four games after a slow start in the series.

The Lightning had an apparent goal by Jonathan Drouin waived off a little more than five minutes into the game, when Penguins coach Mike Sullivan successfully challenged that the young Tampa Bay winger was offside on the play before tapping in a rebound off Ondrej Palat's shot that bounced off Murray's pads.

Sullivan announced the decision to go back to Murray following Tuesday's morning skate, with the Penguins facing elimination for the first time this postseason.

Murray started the first four games of the series. Fleury replaced him during the third period of Game 4, then made his first start in nearly two months in Game 5, which Tampa Bay won 4-3 in overtime.

Sullivan said he was switching back to Murray because ''just like we make all our lineup decisions, we try to put players on the ice that we think give us the best chance to win.''

Before Game 5, Fleury had not started a game since March 31, when he suffered a concussion.

Tampa Bay entered the game determined to not come out flat in Game 6 of the conference final for the second straight year.

The Lightning beat the New York Rangers on the road to go up 3-2 in that series, but were badly outplayed at home the next game and had to return to Madison Square Garden to finish the series.

Now, they'll have to win on the road again to make the third Stanley Cup appearance in franchise history.

NOTES: The Penguins were 1 for 3 on the power play and are 4 for 19 in the series. The Lightning were 0 for 1, dropping to 2 for 12. ... Malkin was penalized in the first period for slashing Tampa Bay Bay's Ryan Callahan in what appeared to be retaliation for the Lightning forward whacking him across the wrist with his stick. ... Murray improved to 4-0 following a loss. He's 10-4 overall in the playoffs.

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Pavelski nets 2 as Sharks push Blues to the brink

ST. LOUIS - Joe Pavelski scored two goals, including the go-ahead score in the opening minute of the third period, and the San Jose Sharks beat the St. Louis Blues 6-3 to take a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference final on Monday night.

Joel Ward also scored twice including one of two empty-netters in the final minute for San Jose, which can close it out at home on Wednesday night. The Sharks have never reached the Stanley Cup Final. Joe Thornton had three assists for the Sharks.

Pavelski leads the playoffs with 12 goals and has three two-goal games, one in each series. The Sharks' captain added an assist and is tied with teammate Logan Couture for the postseason points lead, each with a franchise-record 21 points.

Related: Watch: Pavelski reclaims goal-scoring lead with nifty tip

Rookie Robby Fabbri scored and David Backes had an assist for St. Louis. Both were questionable coming off injuries in Game 4.

The Blues are just 4-6 at home in the postseason, and failed to hold leads of 2-1 and 3-2 in Game 5. They're 6-3 on the road.

The Sharks were 2 for 3 on the power play in the win.

Troy Brouwer batted in a rebound from midair for St. Louis and Ward also scored a similar goal for San Jose with his first of the game.

Related: Watch: Blues' Brouwer bats in 8th goal of playoffs

Brouwer leads St. Louis with eight goals in 19 games this postseason after totaling seven in his first 78 playoff games.

Pavelski was left alone in the slot on a power play at 18:33 of the second and beat Jake Allen to tie it at 3-3. He redirected Brent Burns' drive from the point 16 seconds into the third to put the Sharks in front to stay.

San Jose goalie Martin Jones allowed three goals on the Blues' first 13 shots, but stopped all seven shots in the third.

The Sharks scored first on Marc-Edouard Vlasic's first goal of the postseason from the point at 3:51 of the first period.

Jaden Schwartz snapped a 13-game goal drought to tie it on a rebound at 7:04 of the first.

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Hitchcock: Blues will make Game 5 lineup firm after warmup

ST. LOUIS - St. Louis Blues coach Ken Hitchcock will decide on the status of his injured players after the pre-game skate before Game 5 of the Western Conference finals against the San Jose Sharks on Monday night.

Captain David Backes and rookie Robby Fabbri, both forwards, were injured in Game 4. Backes missed the final two periods and Fabbri had just two shifts in the third period of a 6-3 victory that knotted the series at 2-2.

Hitchcock said he'll have the same number of players dressed for the warmup as in Game 4, when he had two extra forwards and one extra defenseman on the ice.

Sharks coach Peter DeBoer indicated he'd have no lineup changes.

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Brouwer, Brodziak fuel offense, Allen backstops Blues to game 4 win

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Troy Brouwer and Kyle Brodziak each scored twice, Jake Allen stopped 31 shots in his first start of the postseason and the St. Louis Blues bounced back from consecutive shutout losses to beat the San Jose Sharks 6-3 on Saturday to even the Western Conference final at two games apiece.

Coach Ken Hitchcock hoped the change in goalie would spark his dormant offense and the move paid off as the Blues controlled the play from the start of Game 4.

Brouwer and Jori Lehtera scored in the first period and the Blues rolled after getting dominated the previous two games when they were outscored 7-0. Alex Pietrangelo added an empty-netter to seal it.

Now it will be up to San Jose to reverse the momentum in Game 5 on Monday night in St. Louis.

Martin Jones, who became the first Sharks goalie ever with consecutive playoff shutouts, was pulled midway through the second period after allowing four goals on 19 shots. James Reimer allowed one goal on seven shots in his first action of the playoffs.

Joe Pavelski set a San Jose franchise record with his 10th goal of the postseason. Chris Tierney and Melker Karlsson also scored in the third for the Sharks, but it wasn't enough as San Jose went 0 for 5 on the power play and allowed a short-handed goal.

There was some cause for concern for St. Louis. Captain David Backes did not play in the final two periods and the Blues did not disclose what injury he had.

St. Louis took control early in the second period after it seemed like San Jose had gained momentum from killing a two-man advantage and then drawing a penalty from the Blues.

But the power play that looked so lethal for most of the playoffs was not clicking this game. The Sharks struggled to set up in the offensive zone and gave up a pair of two-on-one chances the other way. The second of those came after an errant pass from Joe Thornton and St. Louis capitalized when Brodziak took a pass from Jaden Schwartz and beat Jones to make it 3-0.

Brodziak struck again a few minutes later off a pass from Dmitrij Jaskin and the Blues cruised to the win that has them the closest they have been to the Stanley Cup final since losing a seven-game conference final to Calgary in 1986.

The Sharks played with a series lead in the conference final for the first time ever but now find themselves tied after four games, just as they were in their first trip in 2004 when they lost to Calgary in six.

Along with giving Allen the start, Hitchcock put the struggling Robby Fabbri and Vladimir Tarasenko on the same line with Lehtera and put defenseman Joel Edmundson back in the lineup after benching him in Game 3.

The changes paid dividends as the Blues got off to a fast start. They hemmed the Sharks in their own zone with a strong forecheck and took a 2-0 lead after one.

Brouwer opened the scoring after Brent Burns was sent off for tripping, beating Jones with a one-timer off a feed from Fabbri to end St. Louis' scoreless drought after 156:59.

The Blues added to the lead following a turnover by Paul Martin in his own zone. Jones robbed Fabbri with a spectacular stick save but Lehtera was right there to knock in the rebound for his second goal of the series.

NOTES: Blues F Scottie Upshall sat for the second straight game with an undisclosed injury. ... Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice opened the Sharks dressing room door to lead them on the ice before the game.

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Lightning hang on to even series with Penguins

TAMPA, Fla. - Ryan Callahan provided an early spark, Andrei Vasilevskiy made two big saves in the closing minutes to avoid a total third-period collapse and the Tampa Bay Lightning held on for a 4-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Callahan tipped a shot past goalie Matt Murray just 17 seconds into the game. Andrej Sustr, Jonathan Drouin and Tyler Johnson also scored and the Lightning rebounded from being badly outplayed in the previous two games to even the series 2-2 heading back to Pittsburgh for Game 5 on Sunday.

Vasilevskiy had a 4-0 lead entering the third period, but the Penguins didn't give up. Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin scored to give Pittsburgh hope, and Chris Kunitz's power-play goal trimmed the deficit to one with just under 7 minutes remaining.

Related: Malkin outwaits Lightning for 1st goal in 9 games

Tampa Bay was outshot 16-7 over the final 20 minutes after dominating the first two periods.

Marc-Andre Fleury replaced Murray in goal for the Penguins at the start of the third, and Kessel's team-leading eighth goal began the rally that just fell short.

Related: Penguins start Fleury for 3rd period vs. Lightning

The Lightning were outshot 89-49 in the previous two games, a disparity that coach Jon Cooper called ''unacceptable'' after the Penguins took a 2-1 series lead.

But the experience of the highs of lows of last year's playoff run to the Stanley Cup final has served the defending conference champions well over the past month.

While acknowledging there was a sense of urgency to play better, Cooper and his players insisted the team was not overly discouraged after being badly outplayed in Games 2 and 3 because they been down in series before and found ways to come back.

Callahan's first goal since Game 3 of the Lightning's second-round win over the New York Islanders got them rolling. Sustr's second career playoff goal - first this postseason - made it 2-0 at 14:28 of the opening period.

Drouin and Johnson scored in the second to build the lead to 4-0, with Drouin's goal coming with a minute left in a four-minute power play that Penguins were unable kill with defenseman Kris Letang in the penalty box for cross-checking and roughing.

Related: Lightning's Drouin scores 3rd goal in 4 Conference Final games

The Penguins, relentless in Game 3 when they took 48 shots en route to a 4-2 victory, were unable to convert a couple of good scoring chances in the first period and had limited opportunities until finally cracking Vasilevskiy in the third.

Kessel scored at 1:18 of the third period, beating Vasilevskiy from above the right circle. The goal was his team-leading eighth of the playoffs, with Nick Bonino and Brian Dumoulin picking up assists.

Malkin scored at 11:13 and the Penguins drew closer when Kunitz added his goal with 6:52 remaining.

Murray stopped 26 of 30 shots through two periods. Fleury finished with seven saves.

Notes: Injured Lightning captain Steven Stamkos continues to practice, however there's still no definitive timetable for a possible return from surgery for a blood clot discovered near his right collarbone. ''I'm hoping to, but there's still a real possibility that I may not play at all in the playoffs. It's tough when you have two different parts of the spectrum,'' Stamkos said. ''It's either you're going to be able to play or it's just not safe to play. So we still haven't come to that decision yet. That's going to take a lot of information gathering and a lot of different opinions.'' ... Penguins RW Patric Hornqvist played after missing the closing minutes of Game 3, when he was shaken up blocking a shot. ... Both teams went 1 of 4 on power-play opportunities.

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Jones, Hertl lead Sharks to Game 3 victory

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Martin Jones made 22 saves in his second straight shutout and Tomas Hertl scored twice to give the San Jose Sharks a series lead for the first time in four trips to the Western Conference final with a 3-0 victory over the St. Louis Blues in Game 3 on Thursday night.

Joonas Donskoi also scored to give the Sharks a 2-1 series advantage and move them as close as they have ever been to reaching their first Stanley Cup final. San Jose had won just three games in its first three trips to the conference final, part of a long history of playoff disappointment that is showing signs of coming to an end.

St. Louis has gone 150:45 without scoring since Jori Lehtera's second-period goal in Game 1 led to a 2-1 victory.

Game 4 is Saturday in San Jose, where the Sharks have won six straight playoff games.

Brian Elliott allowed three goals on 14 shots before being pulled midway through the third.

The Blues now find themselves trailing a series for just the second time this postseason. Overcoming this deficit may be tougher than coming back last round after losing the opener to Dallas.

While the Stars were leaky on defense and rotated between two mostly ineffective goalies, the Sharks have done a stellar job defending in front of Jones, who has been sharp in his first postseason as a starter.

After allowing the soft goal to Lehtera that led to the Game 1 loss, Jones has been perfect the past two games. He has stopped 58 straight shots and has posted the first back-to-back playoff shutouts in Sharks history.

That kind of goaltending and another dominant performance from Joe Thornton's line was more than enough for San Jose. That line scored twice, with the first coming off a St. Louis turnover late in the first.

Colton Parayko's breakout pass to Lehtera was broken up in the neutral zone by Brent Burns. Thornton quickly sent the loose puck ahead to Joe Pavelski, who found Hertl for a big slap shot that beat Elliott high to the glove side to make it 1-0 late in the period.

Hertl scored again early in the third off a perfect pass from Thornton, ending Elliott's night.

St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock juggled his lineup after watching his team get outplayed the first two games. Centers Alexander Steen and Lehtera switched lines and Magnus Paajarvi and Dmitrij Jaskin suited up on the fourth line in place of Steve Ott and Scottie Upshall. On defense, Robert Bortuzzo got the nod in place of Joel Edmundson and Parayko moved up to the second pair with Kevin Shattenkirk.

The Blues looked faster early and had the better of the play at the start, holding the Sharks without a shot on goal for more than eight minutes. But St. Louis seemed to lose some steam after Hertl's first goal.

Matters only got worse in the second period. Donskoi broke up a pass from Robby Fabbri midway through the second to start an odd-man rush. Logan Couture skated into the offensive zone on a 3-on-2 chance and fed the trailing Donskoi for the wrist shot from the slot that made it 2-0.

NOTES: Jones has three shutouts in the past four games, also doing it in Game 7 in the second round against Nashville. That ties Evgeni Nabokov (2004) for the most shutouts in a single postseason for the Sharks. ... Paajarvi made his playoff debut after 276 regular-season games. ... Sharks D Paul Martin played his 100th career playoff game.

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Kessel, Crosby, lead Pittsburgh to dominant Game 3 victory over Tampa Bay

TAMPA, Fla. - Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel and Chris Kunitz scored third-period goals, helping the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals Wednesday night.

Carl Hagelin snapped a scoreless tie late in the second period and Matt Murray had 26 saves for the Penguins, who took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Game 4 is Friday night at Amalie Arena.

Crosby's power-play goal restored a two-goal lead midway through the final period. Kunitz also beat goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy from the right circle to make it 4-1.

Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat scored for the Lightning. They have lost two straight after winning the series opener in Pittsburgh. The defending Eastern Conference champions were outshot 48-28, including 38-16 over the last two periods.

Vasilevskiy won Game 1 in relief of the injured Ben Bishop and the Penguins took Game 2 in Pittsburgh when Crosby scored the first overtime playoff goal of his career less than a minute into the extra period.

The Lightning were outshot by a combined 76-41 in the first two games, but weren't as concerned with that disparity as much as by a lack of good scoring chances - a problem they hoped to rectify by coming out more aggressive to try to put more pressure on Murray on Wednesday night.

And for a while, they did.

Murray, though, had 12 saves in the opening period, but the Lightning couldn't keep up the pace. Pittsburgh controlled the puck for much of the second period, taking 21 shots to Tampa Bay's six and finally breaking through against the 21-year-old goaltender when Kessel chased down a loose puck before flicking a shot from the right circle.

Vasilevskiy, who had stopped Kessel on a breakaway earlier in the period, blocked the shot directly toward Hagelin, who tipped it in at 19:50.

Kessel's team-leading seventh goal this postseason gave the Penguins a short-lived two-goal lead. Johnson countered for Tampa Bay just 14 seconds later, taking a pass from Nikita Kucherov and barreling in on Murray, who was unable to stop a shot that bounced off his upper body before continuing into the net.

NOTES: Bishop worked out in full gear before Wednesday's morning skate, and coach Jon Cooper said he's hopeful that the Vezina Trophy finalist can practice Thursday. He hasn't played since leaving Game 1 with a lower left leg injury. ''He's progressing,'' Cooper said. ''I think now we're teetering on whether he can be back or not, but there's obviously no guarantees in that. But he's been making gradual steps every day.'' ... The Penguins went 1-for-3 on the power play. Tampa Bay was 0 for 1. ... Crosby's goal was his fifth of the playoffs. The Penguins star scored for the second straight game after going eight in a row without a goal.

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Blues hang on to capture early series lead over Sharks

ST. LOUIS - Brian Elliott had another standout game in net, David Backes and Jori Lehtera had goals and the St. Louis Blues opened their first Western Conference final in 15 years with a 2-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Sunday night.

Tomas Hertl scored on a first-period deflection for the Sharks, who outshot St. Louis 32-23 but couldn't quite solve Elliott.

The Sharks were the best road team in the NHL in the regular season at 28-10-3, but have dropped four in a row on the road in these playoffs, including all three in the second round against Nashville. They had seven goals in three road losses to the Predators and were 0 for 5 on the power play, which had been a major plus. San Jose had been converting on 33 percent of its power plays in the postseason.

The Blues made good on their first chance with home ice advantage in the playoffs, although they're just 4-4 at the Scottrade Center heading into Game 2 on Tuesday night.

Elliott was at his best - and got some luck - in the second period when the Blues were outshot 16-5, but got the lone goal when Lehtera scored unassisted. The goalie benefited from a quick whistle with 1:14 left when he unsuccessfully tried to smother the puck on a long dump-in by Melker Karlsson, and it slowly slid between his pads and off his stick into the net, just after play had been ruled dead.

Backes opened the scoring with a deflection and is tied with sharpshooter Vladimir Tarasenko for the team lead with seven goals in the playoffs. The team captain had 21 goals in the regular season.

Lehtera's second of the playoffs came off an errant clearing attempt by Brent Burns for a 2-1 lead. He powered through on his shot after Chris Tierney got a piece of the stick.

Just 34 seconds elapsed between the opening goal by Backes and Hertl's answering goal redirected a shot by Joe Pavelski with the puck bouncing past Elliott.

The Blues had just enough despite a third disallowed goal in the playoffs. Patrik Berglund's deflection was waved off because of incidental contact with goalie Martin Jones, a call confirmed after video review.

NOTES: The Sharks totaled nine goals in Game 1 the first two rounds and were 2-0. The Blues had two, one in each game, and were 1-1. ... Burns earned his 16th point of the postseason, second-most on the team, on the Sharks' first goal. ... There were no surprises in the scratches. ... Lehtera's other goal this playoffs came in Game 7 of the first round against the Blackhawks. ... The Sharks are 0-5 in series after winning the previous series in seven games.

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Lightning’s Vasilevskiy shuts down Penguins to take 1-0 series lead

PITTSBURGH - The Tampa Bay Lightning's 3-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Friday night may have come at a heavy price.

Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop left the ice on a stretcher in the first period after injuring his left leg. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 stops while filling in and the Lighting took advantage of some sloppy miscues by Pittsburgh's defense to take away home-ice advantage in the best-of-seven series.

Game 2 is Monday night in Pittsburgh.

Alex Killorn, Ondrej Palat and Jonathan Drouin scored for Tampa Bay, and the Lightning kept Pittsburgh's dynamic offense under wraps for long stretches.

Patric Hornqvist picked up his sixth goal of the playoffs for the Penguins. Rookie goaltender Matt Murray finished with 17 saves, but was put in a tough spot several times because of defensive miscues in front of him.

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Blues crush Stars in Game 7, break through to conference finals

DALLAS - St. Louis did more than survive a Game 7 this time. The Blues dominated to advance to their first Western Conference finals since 2001.

Linemates Robby Fabbri, Paul Stastny and Troy Brouwer each scored a goal and assisted on each other's tallies, as the Blues beat the Dallas Stars 6-1 on Wednesday night.

The Blues, in the playoffs for the 40th time and still in search of their first Stanley Cup, will have home-ice advantage in the Western Conference finals against Nashville or San Jose - and for the Stanley Cup as well if they advance. The Predators and Sharks play the deciding Game 7 on Thursday night.

David Backes, their captain, and Patrik Berglund also had goals for the Blues, who won their third road game in this series. Vladimir Tarasenko added an empty-netter with 4:40 left.

Patrick Eaves had the lone goal for Dallas, which matched its most lopsided playoff loss. The Stars also lost 6-1 in Game 3 of this series.

It was the fourth straight game in the series, and fifth overall, won by the visiting team, and a lopsided finish to a second-round series matching the Western Conference's top two teams in the regular season. The Blues were only two points behind Dallas in the regular-season standings for the top seed.

Brian Elliott was back in goal for the Blues and had 31 saves. He had been pulled late in the first period of Game 6 after giving up three goals in seven shots - and Dallas held on to win that 3-2 to set up their first Game 7 at home since 2000, and first in the American Airlines Center.

St. Louis also needed seven games to win its first-round series this postseason, beating the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 on Brouwer's winning goal in the Game 7 clincher at home.

In this Game 7, the Blues were in firm control after the first period, even after having a goal taken off the board because of a replay challenge by Dallas.

The Blues were ahead to stay when rookie Fabbri scored on a power play 5:23 into the game with a backhander after Kari Lehtonen was unable to control a loose puck in front.

Tarasenko took a shot from in front of the left circle that somehow got behind Lehtonen into the net with about 2 minutes left in the first period that appeared to make it 2-0. But replay showed that Tarasenko was just offside before the puck got in the zone, and officials wiped off the goal.

St. Louis responded with two goals in the final 1:38 of the period: Stastny first and then Berglund on a shot from just inside the blue line with only 3.4 seconds left before the intermission.

Stars coach Lindy Ruff has used two goalies all season, and Lehtonen was replaced after allowing three goals in eight shots. Antti Niemi took over in the second period, when Backes and Brouwer scored, but stopped the other eight shots he faced.

NOTES: St. Louis is 5-2 on the road this postseason. ... Ruff is 0-4 in Game 7s as a coach. The first three were with Buffalo, in 2001, 2006 and 2011. ... Blues coach Ken Hitchcock was the Stars coach for their previous Game 7 at home, a win over Colorado at Reunion Arena in the Western Conference final. ... Tarasenko has seven goals this postseason, while Backes has six. ... The Blues blocked 34 shots; the Stars blocked five.

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