TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Lightning are one win away from their third consecutive trip to the Stanley Cup Final. The team can thank veteran wing Ondrej Palat for putting them in this position.
The Bolts’ 7th-round pick from the 2011 draft scored four goals in the first five games of the Eastern Conference Final against the New York Rangers. Two of those goals won games.
The first game-winner occurred with less than a minute to play in Game 3. Palat released a pinpoint accurate shot to the top-right corner of the net after a great pass from Nikita Kucherov. The second game-winning goal was more of an accident. Mikhail Sergachev’s shot with less than two minutes remaining in Game 5 deflected off of Palat’s left knee and into the back of the Rangers’ net.
Albeit, Palat is now the Lightning’s all-time leader in playoff game-winning goals.
“I’m trying to play every single game the same way. Sometimes, it shows on the score sheet, sometimes not. Sometimes, I have a better game when I don’t have any points,” Palat said.
Palat finds himself on the score sheet often, though. He has the second-most playoff goals in Lightning history. This season, he leads the team in playoff goals with eight.
“[Palat’s] a guy that—no matter what stage, no matter what stage—he’s ‘Mr. Reliable,’” Steven Stamkos, Tampa’s all-time leader in playoff goals, said.
“He’s a warrior, he’s talented…he just goes out and works,” head coach Jon Cooper said.
The Lightning host Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final on Saturday at Amalie Arena. With a win, Tampa starts the Stanley Cup Final against the Colorado Avalanche on June 15.