Tampa Bay Lightning beat New York Rangers in Game 5, are one win away from Stanley Cup Final

The Tampa Bay Lightning are one win away from a third consecutive trip to the Stanley Cup Final after beating the New York Rangers 3-1 in Game 5 on Thursday night to take a 3-2 series lead.

Mikhail Sergachev's shot deflected in off Ondrej Palat's knee with 1:50 left in the third period to break a tie at Madison Square Garden. It was Sergachev's second point of the game and Palat's second game-winner in the last three games for the Lightning, who had trailed the series 2-0.

"It was a simple play that we practice all the time," Sergachev said. "Guys go to the net. The D-men shoot the puck. … You keep doing that more and more, and you get rewarded."

STAY UP TO DATE:Sign up for our Sports newsletter to get updates delivered daily to your inbox

The road team won for the first time in the Eastern Conference final. The two-time defending champion Lightning can advance with a win at home on Saturday night. But the Rangers are 5-0 in elimination games this postseason.

"It definitely stings," said Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba. "We've got a short mind-set. The series isn't over. We've been here before. We've got to go there and win a game."

The Rangers and Lightning swapped goals by defensemen in the second period after a scoreless first.

New York scored first when Ryan Lindgren intercepted an attempted clearing pass by the Lightning and fired a shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy at 10:29.

But Sergachev tied it up at 17:34. He intercepted a clearing pass, skated along the blue line and scored through a screen. He had gone 39 playoff games without a goal.

"I don’t think I’ve experienced anything like that before, so it was such a really good feeling to help the team win the game," he said.

Brandon Hagel scored an empty-net goal.

The Lightning have won three games this postseason by scoring the game-winning goal in the final two minutes.

"It’s defend till the end," captain Steven Stamkos said. "We’ve got some guys that can make some plays and you never know when it’s going to come."

Avalanche: Picking Game 1 goalie is 'tough decision' 

Colorado Avalanche coach Jared Bednar was mum on which goaltender would be in net for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Darcy Kuemper was the starter before exiting the first game against Edmonton with an upper-body injury. Pavel Francouz was in net the rest of the series as the Avalanche earned a spot in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2001.

“It’s a tough decision,” Bednar said. “There will be conversations about it.”

Kuemper wouldn’t divulge the precise nature of his injury. He did say he was seeing the puck “really good.” In the Nashville series, Kuemper was poked through his mask with a stick that caught him near his eye. He was back for the St. Louis Blues series, which the Avalanche won in six games.

He applauded Francouz’s performance.

“Super happy for him,” Kuemper said. “It was great for the team.”