Lighting strike to stun Penguins

Lighting strike to stun Penguins

WASHINGTON - Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 24 shots as the Tampa Bay Lightning withstood furious pressure from the Pittsburgh Penguins to secure a 3-1 victory in the opening game of their Eastern Conference final duel.

Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning produced the game of his life to keep the Penguins all-star offense at bay

Goals from Alex Killorn, Ondrej Palat and Jonathan Drouin handed the Lightning their fourth straight win over Pittsburgh this season and gave them vital home-ice advantage heading into Game Two on Monday.

The Lightning achieved victory the hard way after Vezina Trophy finalist Ben Bishop left the game with what looked like a serious injury in the first period.

The Lightning were already without star forward Steven Stamkos and key defenseman Anton Stralman.

Bishop was left clutching his left knee and screaming in agony before being carried from the ice on a stretcher 12:25 into the first.

Yet the sight of the Lightning's talismanic goalie leaving the ice was the cue for a heroic performance from his replacement Vasilevskiy.

Vasilevskiy, 21, produced the game of his life to keep the Penguins all-star offense at bay.

Pittsburgh stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were both shutout, with Penguins lone goal from Sweden's Patric Hornqvist.

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