After four matches in the Eastern Conference finals between the Rangers and the Lightning, the score was equal, so the significance of the fifth meeting became largely decisive.
And this was clearly confirmed by the statistics.
In the event that the teams had two victories in the opening games, it was the winner of the fifth who subsequently took the entire series in 78.5% of cases.
And the Tampa Bay hockey players themselves were a clear confirmation of this.
A year ago, they scored eight unanswered goals against another team from New York - the Islanders, and then won a ticket to the decisive round of the Stanley Cup.
True, then the fifth match was held at the Amalie Arena, and this time John Cooper's wards were to leave for the legendary Madison Square Garden stadium.
Complicating the situation was the fact that the Rangers were unstoppable on their ice.
Igor Shesterkin and the company have already managed to take the upper hand in eight home meetings (8-1) of the current Stanley Cup and were one step away from repeating the club record for the number of home wins in the playoffs.
In 1994, led by Brian Leach and Mark Messier, the team won on home ice nine times (9-4), which helped the Rangers win the Stanley Cup for the last time in their history.
It may seem that the Rangers looked much more powerful in the first period.
Gerard Gallant's team fared better on face-offs, had four times as many interceptions and almost three times as many forced the opposing goaltender into the game.
However, the most dangerous moments arose at the gates of Igor Shesterkin.
First, Nikita Kucherov shook the post with a powerful throw, and then Nick Paul also hit the frame.
The hosts responded with an attempt by Miki Zibanezhad to hit the near corner, but Artemiy Panarin was closest to the goal.
The Russian attacked from a lethal position, but Andrei Vasilevsky stopped the puck with his shoulder, and a second later he did not allow Philip Khitil to finish off.
The opponents managed to open an account only in the second period, and the star goalkeepers of both teams did not work perfectly.
Ryan Lindgren took Vasilevsky by surprise with a “shot” from an acute angle into the near nine, and Mikhail Sergachev upset Shesterkin with a not very strong throw from the blue line.
Of course, it was not easy for Igor to see the moment of the throw because of the accumulation of players in front of the target, and Andrey could be embarrassed by the rebound from the stick of Stephen Stamkos.
One way or another, the opponents went to the break with the score 1:1, and the outcome of the confrontation was decided in the third segment.
And at first, the Rangers looked preferable.
It is enough to take at least an attack with the participation of the defenders of Adam Fox and the same Lindgren, who almost forced Vasilevsky to capitulate.
The Russian repulsed a throw into the near corner from a meter, after which he managed to finish off in a spectacular split.
Moreover, Panarin began this offensive, actively criticized by American fans during the Stanley Cup semi-finals.
The forward has already scored five (2 + 3) points, but more is expected from the second highest paid hockey player in the league.
But if Panarin was never able to replenish his scorer account, then his main competitor succeeded.
In the end, Kucherov participated in two scoring attacks of the Lightning and helped them win a major victory in the confrontation with the Rangers.
First, with the help of Victor Hedman, he brought the puck to Sergachev, whose throw again became an unsolvable problem for Shesterkin, and after 51 seconds he brought Brandon Hagel to an empty net.
It is noteworthy that the double was not counted in Mikhail's asset, recording a goal on Ondrej Palat.
Although on replay it is difficult to understand at what point the puck touched the stick of the Czech striker.
However, this did not prevent Sergachev from scoring 26 (7 + 19) points and climbing to the eighth line among the most productive Russian defenders in the NHL playoffs.
According to this indicator, he bypassed the trophy winner in the Los Angeles Vyacheslav Voinov and approached Vladimir Malakhov (8 + 19) and Vyacheslav Fetisov (2 + 26).
In addition to this was the title of the first star of the match.
In turn, Kucherov took another step towards the title of the best Russian scorer in the history of the Stanley Cup.
In the course of the current championship, the Lightning forward overtook Alexander Ovechkin and is already in third place with 149 points (51 + 98), second only to Sergei Fedorov (176) and Evgeni Malkin (180).
Kucherov did not stop there and after the final whistle he became one of the instigators of the mass brawl when he responded to Fox's provocation.
A few seconds before the whistle, the American tried to hold a Russian passing by with a club, and when he hit him with a puck, he hit him in the side.
Nikita reacted, after which a fight ensued.
Alexi Lafrenier and Steven Stamkos showed themselves more active than others.
Hockey players exchanged a couple of phrases, after which they went into hand-to-hand combat.
However, the first pick of the 2020 draft failed to compete with the veteran Lightning.
The young Canadian missed several hard shots, and then an impromptu pass to the legs.
One way or another, Tampa Bay took the lead in the series and is now one step away from reaching the Stanley Cup Finals for the third time in a row.
The last time this was possible was led by the legendary Wayne Gretzky "Edmonton".
In 1983-1985, the Oilers reached the decisive stage of the playoffs three times, but won only twice.
Their first campaign for the trophy ended in a crushing defeat from the Islanders (0:4).
In turn, this success was special for Vasilevsky, who was not only recognized as the second star of the match, but also won the 60th victory in the Stanley Cup.
Before him, only 17 goalkeepers in the league had achieved this bar, and only Marc-Andre Fleury (92) can boast of this achievement.
The record is held by former Montreal and Colorado goaltender Patrick Roy (151).