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Lightning to face Penguins in Eastern Conference Final series

in Sports/Top Headlines by

The Tampa Bay Lightning got their dance partner Tuesday night.

The Lightning will play the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL Eastern Conference Finals. Pittsburgh closed out the Washington Capitals in Game Six with a 4-3 overtime win.

To a lot of people, the Penguins are probably the favorites in the series. They have home ice after totalling 104 points. The Lightning had 97.

But Tampa Bay beat Pittsburgh in all three of their meetings this year. The Bolts won 4-0, 6-1 and 5-2.

In the first game, Anton Stralman and Steve Stamkos, both out injured, scored the Lightning’s first two goals. In fact, Stralman scored in all three of the Lightning victories.

In the third game, Vlad Namestnikov had a hat trick. Ben Bishop was 2-0, allowing five goals on 69 shots.

The league has yet to announce which nights the games will be played.

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Gary Shelton is one of the most recognized and honored sportswriters in the history of the state. He has won the APSE's national columnist of the year twice and finished in the top 10 eight times. He was named the Florida Sportswriter of the Year six times. Gary joined SaintPetersBlog in the spring, helping to bring a sports presence to the website. Over his time in sports writing, Gary has covered 29 Super Bowls, 10 Olympics, Final Fours, Masters, Wimbledons and college national championships. He was there when the Bucs won a Super Bowl, when the Lightning won a Stanley Cup and when the Rays went to a World Series. He has seen Florida, FSU and Miami all win national championships, and he covered Bear Bryant, Bobby Bowden and Don Shula along the way. He and his wife Janet have four children: Eric, Kevin, K.C. and Tori. To contact, visit [email protected].

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