Lightning top Rangers in Game 4, even Eastern Conference Final

The Tampa Bay Lightning evened the Eastern Conference Final with a 4-1 win against the New York Rangers in Game 4 at Amalie Arena in Tampa on Tuesday.

Game 5 will be in New York on Thursday. The winner of the best-of-7 series will play the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Final.
"We've progressively gotten better, and I think we took some more positive steps tonight," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "We had a bit of a layoff, and I think now we're starting to find our game and now we just have to keep this going in New York."
RELATED: [Complete Rangers vs. Lightning series coverage]
The first four games have been won by the home team, the first time it's happened in a conference final since the 1991 Wales Conference Final between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins.
"I'm hoping it's going to be a homer series," Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. "That's what it looks like so far. We were pretty good in our building and they're pretty good in their building. That's what I see so far."
Ondrej Palat had a goal and two assists, Jan Rutta had two assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 34 saves for the Lightning, the No. 3 seed in the Atlantic Division. They won their sixth straight at home.
"We've been desperate the last couple of games," Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos said. "We knew how important they were to get back in this series. We've done it but we can't sit on our hands and be happy with that. We've got to keep moving forward."
Artemi Panarin scored, and Igor Shesterkin made 27 saves for the Rangers, the No. 2 seed in the Metropolitan Division.
"I think there were moments we were disjointed," New York forward Chris Kreider said. "I think they did establish a pretty good forecheck and were able to reset pucks on us a lot and keep us in our own zone. That's when the details matter more."

Pat Maroon gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead at 2:38 of the first period. Zach Bogosian split two defenders to get a shot on net, and Maroon scored on a rebound from close range.
"[Pierre-Edouard Bellemare] made a heads-up play, he hit me late coming with speed," Bogosian said. "I came in the zone with speed and just tried to get the puck, somehow, to the net and 'Patty' buried it. Anytime you get a player like him the puck to him somewhere around the net, he's got soft hands so it's part of the game plan."
Nikita Kucherov extended the lead to 2-0 at 13:07 of the second period when he scored through the five-hole on a breakaway. He has scored in three consecutive games.
Stamkos made it 3-0 at 4:56 of the third period on a rebound from a sharp angle after Palat shot from high in the right face-off circle.
"I think it starts in the [defensive] zone," Maroon said, "neutral zone, moving more coming back to the [defensemen], supporting them in the neutral zone and getting our five-man rush, and the [defensemen] are jumping up into [the] play. So we're getting back to our speed game here and find ways to get pucks behind them and go to work like we used to."

Panarin cut it to 3-1 with a power-play goal at 16:27. After New York pulled Shesterkin to make it a 6-on-4 advantage, Panarin collected a loose puck in the right circle and beat Vasilevskiy high to the short side.
"It's not easy, but we can't be sad," Panarin said. "For sure it's not going to help us. Try to be positive. We have to be positive. We've been in a worse spot before, so we're OK. I hope we do well in [Madison Square] Garden. Our fans, nice to see again. Try to do something more."
Palat's empty-net goal made it 4-1 with nine seconds remaining.
Rangers forward Filip Chytil left the game in the second period with an upper-body injury after colliding with Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman along the boards. New York was also without forward Ryan Strome, who took the warmup but did not play because of a lower-body injury sustained in Game 3. Gallant said Chytil should be fine and that Strome is day to day.
"Every team is dealing with injuries," Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba said. "We like the depth of our team. We think we can manage and overcome injuries. It's not something we're looking at or thinking about too hard. Do we miss them? Yeah. Do we hope they come back? Yeah. But you've got to be able to play without them."
NOTES: Tampa Bay is 11-1 in Stanley Cup Playoff history when Stamkos and Kucherov score. … Palat's goal the 16th of his career in this playoff round, the most among active players. … The Lightning tied their longest postseason home winning streak. They won six straight last season, from Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Semifinals against the New York Islanders through Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Montreal Canadiens. … Rangers defenseman Adam Fox had an eight-game point streak end. He was minus-3 in 26:34 of ice time. … Panarin has eight points (three goals, five assists) in the past seven games.