Nikita Kucherov scored his seventh goal of the playoffs, Andrei Vasilevskiy made 32 saves and the Lightning beat the Rangers 4-1 on Tuesday to tie the Tampa Bay-New York East Final 2-2.
Kucherov made it 2-0 at 1:07 in the second period, slotting the puck between Igor Shesterkin’s pads on a breakaway.
The pass came from Ondrej Palat, craftsman of a first threat 30 seconds earlier, after defeating Andrew Copp.
Kucherov’s net was his sixth point in his last three games.
Palat, Pat Maroon and Steven Stamkos were the other scorers for the Lightning, which won a sixth straight game at home.
Palat completed the scoring in an empty net, after stealing the disc from K’Andre Miller.
Game 4 is Thursday at Madison Square Garden.
Vasilevskiy was denied a shutout at 16:27 in the third period when Artemi Panarin scored on the power play. A goal on a high quality shot, shortly after a shot from the blue line by Adam Fox.
Shesterkin blocked 26 shots.
Maroon scored on the home club’s first shot at 2:38 in the first period.
Coming in from the right flank, Zach Bogosian skilfully drove into the net, beating defender Justin Braun. He was stopped but the rebound was converted by Maroon from the backhand.
On a penalty to the visitors’ Ryan Reaves, midway through the first period, the Lightning’s best chance was a low slap shot by Corey Perry from high up in the slot.
Five minutes later, Mika Zibanejad narrowly countered Stamkos, who was trying to create a short breakaway.
The initial engagement ended with the New Yorkers putting pressure on for a minute and a half, including a dangerous shot from Ryan Lindgren.
Early in the middle period, Alex Killorn of the Lightning created a great opportunity for Anthony Cirelli, but the latter completely missed his shot.
Captain Stamkos added an insurance goal at 4:56 of the third period, on a rebound from Palat’s shot.
Stamkos started the streak by winning a faceoff to the left of Shesterkin en route to his seventh goal of the playoffs.
With about 12 minutes left in the game, Rangers said Filip Chytil would not return due to an upper body injury.