TAMPA, Fla. _ Cedric Paquette won the opening faceoff, skated up ice and scored on the game's first shot.
It was not exactly how the Lightning drew things up for Saturday's Game 5 vs. the Capitals. Paquette was on the ice to prevent a goal not score one, but that is how the puck is bouncing for the Lightning.
The unlikely goal from an unlikely source sent the Lightning on its way to a 3-2 victory Saturday in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final.
The Lightning leads this best-of-seven series, 3-2, and needs one win to reach the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in four years and the third time in franchise history. Game 6 is Monday in Washington D.C.
The win was the third straight for the Lightning and was the first by the home team in the series.
Center Tyler Johnson was asked before the game if the key for a victory was to play as if was a road game.
"I don't think we really look at it as home and road," Johnson said. "I think our first two games we weren't in our structure. We weren't doing what we wanted to do. We didn't have the desperation.
"I thought Game 3 was better. Game 4 had its ups and downs, but I think when we came into this game, we've just got to try to approach it to know that the little things that are working for us, we've just got to continue doing that for a full 60 minutes."
The Lightning, a preseason favorite to play for the Cup if not win it, reached this point because they continued to play like the team that earned the top-seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and won eight of the 10 games they played during the first two rounds.
Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy was back to his old, stone-wall-like self. The penalty kill stopped Washington's only power-play opportunity of the night. And, they showed off their depth in scoring, getting four points from their fourth line of Paquette, Ryan Callahan and Chris Kunitz.
The Lightning kept Alex Ovechkin in check for most of the night. In fact, Ovechkin was held without a shot in the first two periods. But he found some space in the third, hitting the crossbar with one shot and scoring with 1:36 to play after the Capitals pulled their goalie to make it a one-goal game.
The Lightning led 3-0 just 33 seconds into the second period then withstood the Capitals over the final period. Dan Girardi blocked a shot in the waning seconds to keep it a one-goal game.
Paquette's goal was his first of the postseason. Callahan' scored his second and assisted on Paquette's goal. Kunitz picked up his first point of the postseason with an assist on Callahan's goal.
Paquette was on the ice to start the game because Lightning coach Jon Cooper wanted his grinding line to the Ovechkin line.
Paquette won the face off, then caught up with the puck in the offensive zone after Callahan knocked it away from a Capitals' defenseman Dmitry Orlov. From there, Paquette beat Braden Holtby on his glove side.
The goal, coming 19 seconds into the game, provided the jolt the Lightning needed as it became he first home team to win in this series.
Just over nine minutes later Ondrej Palat scored his sixth goal of the postseason. Steven Stamkos started things by forcing a turnover at mid ice. Nikita Kucherov caught up to the puck and centered it to Palat.
The goal capped the scoring in a dominating first period that saw the Lightning out-shoot the Caps by a 13-4 margin.
The second period began equally as well with Callahan knocking a rebound past Holtby with his right leg just 33 seconds into the period. Anton Stralman tried to jam the puck past Holtby only to be stopped by the goalie. But the rebound bounced in the air. Callahan beat Ovechkin to the puck and was knocked down as the puck went in the net.
