Lightning beat Rangers 4-1 in Game 4 to even East final

The Tampa Bay Lightning delivered on a promise to play with a greater sense of urgency, storming back in the Eastern Conference finals against the New York Rangers and keeping their bid for a third straight Stanley Cup title alive.

Nikita Kucherov scored on a breakaway and Andrei Vasilevskiy had 33 saves Tuesday night, helping the two-time defending NHL champions shut down the Rangers 4-1 and even the best-of-seven series at two games apiece.

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"We've got ourselves squared up in this series. It's great, much better than the position we were in a couple days ago. But this is where it gets down to the really tough stuff," Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said.

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These next couple of games, we have to go on the road and we have to find a way to win a game in their barn," Stamkos added. "We're looking forward to that challenge, but I really like where our game is now compared to where it was a couple days ago

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Kucherov took a pass from Ondrej Palat in the middle of the ice and skated in on goaltender Igor Shesterkin to give the Lightning a two-goal lead just over 13 minutes into the second period.

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With Vasilevskiy back on his game following a slow start to the series, that turned out to be more than enough offensive support to hold off a Rangers team that's suddenly found it difficult to score

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Vasilevskiy stopped 28 of 30 shots to win Game 3 and was even better Tuesday night, when he extended a stretch in which he did not give up a goal to nearly 67 minutes before New York's Artemi Panarin scored on the power play at 16:27 of the third period.

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Until Vasilevskiy's bid for a shutout ended, the Rangers hadn't scored since Chris Kreider's power-play goal put them up 2-0 at 9:44 of the second period in Game 3.

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It was the third goal of the playoffs for Maroon, a 34-year-old, fourth-line forward who's chasing a fourth consecutive Stanley Cup title after winning with St. Louis in 2019 and signing with Tampa Bay before the following season.

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Stamkos' goal built the lead to 3-0 early in the third period. Palat added an empty-netter with 8.7 seconds remaining, finishing with a goal and two assists.

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