Ondrej Palat scored on a deflection with 1:50 remaining to break a tie and lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday night for a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference final.

The Lightning have a chance to clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup final when the best-of-seven series returns to Amalie Arena in Tampa for Game 6 on Saturday night.

Mikhail Sergachev and Brandon Hagel also scored to help the two-time defending champion Lightning get their third straight win, the first by a road team in this series.

Andre Vasilevskiy stopped 24 shots. Ryan Lindgren scored for New York, which had won eight straight at home.

New York's Igor Shesterkin finished with 24 saves.

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