TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos urged his teammates to not play “scared.”
The Lightning responded with their best performance of the playoffs, and now they’re headed to the Eastern Conference finals.
Nikita Kucherov had two goals and an assist, and Stamkos and Ondrej Palat also scored Tuesday night in a 4-1 victory that ended the Lightning’s second-round series against Montreal in six games.
The Canadiens fought off elimination in Games 4 and 5, but were unable to overcome Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop in the clincher.
“We were talking about this game like it was Game 7,” Stamkos said. “We clogged it up good in the third period. It was as good a defensive period as we’ve played.”
Kucherov finished with six goals in the series.
Palat also had a goal and assist for Tampa Bay, which played without forward Ryan Callahan, who had an emergency appendectomy on Monday night.
“Cally’s been a warrior for us since he’s been here,” Stamkos said. “We miss him out there for sure, but we had his name up on the board before the game as a little inspiration, and guys stepped up.”
Bishop stopped 18 shots to outperform Carey Price, who finished with 24 saves.
“I didn’t play well enough,” Price said. “I think that’s more or less what it comes down to. We lost a lot of tight games. I just needed to make that one more save in all the games that we lost, and I didn’t do that.”
The Lightning, who won nine of 11 meetings against the Canadians this season, including playoffs, will face either the New York Rangers or Washington Capitals in the conference finals.
Those teams meet in Game 7 of their second-round series on Wednesday night.
Price, a leading candidate for league MVP, played well in helping the Canadiens climb back in the series after losing the first two games at home and watching Game 3 slip away in the closing seconds for a 3-0 deficit.
The Montreal star stopped several shots from point-blank range — but Bishop was better for Tampa Bay.
“First of all, you’ve got to give the Lightning a lot of credit. They played their best game in this series tonight,” Montreal coach Michel Therrien said.
“I felt as a coach that physically and mentally we were drained,” Therrien added. “I’m disappointed, but those things happen.”
Montreal’s loss means the last of five Canadian-based teams that reached the postseason is eliminated from the playoffs. A Canadian-based team hasn’t won the Cup since the Canadiens did it in 1993.
Despite the loss, the Canadians have won five of the last seven games they’ve played when facing elimination.