Palat's late goal completes Lightning rally against Rangers in Game 3

TAMPA --Ondrej Palat scored with 42 seconds remaining in the third period, and the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied for a 3-2 win against the New York Rangers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final at Amalie Arena on Sunday.

Palat received a backhand pass from Nikita Kucherov and scored short side just inside the post from below the right face-off dot.
"I think we shot the puck twice, 'Kuch' got in the slot and made a great pass to me," Palat said. "I was just trying to shoot it on net and the puck went in."
Palat's game-winning goal was his 10th career in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, passing Tyler Johnson for the most in Lightning history.
"Palat, we've seen this for years. He is a great kid, he doesn't say anything," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "All he does is give you everything he has on every shift. He's played up and down the lineup, but he's got the ability to play that blue-collar game with white-collar players, and that's a great trait to have."
RELATED: [Complete Rangers vs. Lightning series coverage]
New York leads the best-of-7 series 2-1. Game 4 will be here on Tuesday.
"They were the better team tonight, overall," Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. "It went right down to the wire, and they had a chance to win late in the hockey game. Disappointing, but we'll move on and get ready for the next one."
Kucherov had a goal and two assists, and Steven Stamkos had a goal and an assist for Tampa Bay, which is the No. 3 seed from the Atlantic Division. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves.
Mika Zibanejad had a goal and an assist, and Artemi Panarin had two assists for New York, the No. 2 seed from the Metropolitan Division. Igor Shesterkin made 49 saves.
"We're going to have to go back and review the game, it just ended. But that being said, we played a pretty tough road game," Rangers forward Chris Kreider said. "We put ourselves in a pretty good spot going into the third (up 2-1). At the end of the day, what we'll take away from the game is the things we need to do better going into Game 4."

Zibanejad gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 7:37 of the second period, scoring on a one-timer from the top of the left circle for his League-leading sixth power-play goal this postseason.
Kreider made it 2-0 at 9:44 with another power-play goal. He scored on a rebound in the crease after Vasilevskiy stopped Zibanejad's initial one-timer.
"We took advantage of some penalties early and got that lead, then took two penalties ourselves," Rangers defenseman Adam Fox said. "They're a skilled team and they're going to capitalize, and they did. We had some good kills. We didn't have one in the third. A lot of zone time, some big blocks, but they tied it. The third period for us just wasn't good enough."
Kucherov cut it to 2-1 at 10:50 of the second when he beat Shesterkin five-hole with a one-timer from low in the right circle on the power play.
"Well, he's won a Hart Trophy (2018-19)," Cooper said of Kucherov. "He's been an electrifying player. He's got two Stanley Cup rings. I think when teams go that far, each team has those types of players on them, and that's what Kuch is. He's a unique, special talent, but anytime when you're the last team standing, there's a player on each team or maybe two that have the gamebreaker, and he's one of them for us."

Stamkos tied it 2-2 at 1:22 of the third period with Tampa Bay's second power-play goal. He scored on a one-timer from the top of the left circle off a pass from Corey Perry.
"We were down 2-0 in the series, it's pretty much all on the line here in the third," Stamkos said. "It was more characteristic of our game. A lot of [offensive] zone time, sustained pressure. A huge penalty kill at the end. 'Vasy' making some great, timely saves. Just a good team effort tonight."
Rangers forward Ryan Strome left early in the second period because of a lower-body injury. Gallant did not have an update postgame.
"'Stromer' is a big part of our team, obviously," Zibanejad said. "We haven't rotated 11 (forwards) and seven (defensemen) that much, but by saying that, I think it's just trying to step up and try to do that job. But obviously it's a big loss when Stromer is not playing. ... Can't do much more than just trying to fill that spot and next man up. Big loss, but we've got to keep working."
NOTES:Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman had two assists to surpass 100 career playoff points (21 goals, 80 assists in 146 games). He is the 14th defenseman in NHL history to reach the milestone. … Kreider's goal was his 34th career in the postseason, tying Rod Gilbert for the most in Rangers history. … Fox had an assist to extend his point streak to eight games (two goals, 11 assists). Zibanejad (seven goals, six assists) also extended his point streak to eight games.