NHL teams
Joe McDonald, ESPN Staff Writer 8y

W2W4: Tampa Bay Lightning at Pittsburgh Penguins, Game 7

PITTSBURGH -- Oh, baby.

The puck drops for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning at 8 p.m. ET Thursday at Consol Energy Center. The winner will advance to face the San Jose Sharks in to the Stanley Cup finals, which begin Monday. The loser will go home.

Statistics, momentum and everything that goes into a series will go out the window in Game 7. It's time to empty the tank and leave it all on the ice.

"This is what it's all about," Penguins veteran forward Matt Cullen. "You think back to when you're playing on the outdoor rinks, and it's always Game 7. In your basement, it's always Game 7. This is the game. You dream about opportunities like this.

"I can tell you, through a long career, you don't get opportunities like this. It's right there for us to go grab, and it's up to us to take advantage of the moment."

Here's what to watch for in Game 7:

Stamkos is a go

Lightning captain Steven Stamkos, who has been sidelined since having surgery to remove a blood clot near his collarbone on April 4, was in the lineup for the start of Game 7. After the team's optional skate Thursday morning, Stamkos was asked if he could put a percentage on the possibility of returning for Game 7 and he said he was done with making predictions.

"We've got another game to win tonight and that's the focus," Stamkos said before the game. "Guys have done a great job of getting us a chance to be one game away from the Stanley Cup finals. You talk about that at the beginning of the year, [and] especially after what we went through last year, you'd take that every day of the week. We're excited."

Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop, who suffered a lower-leg injury in Game 1, has not been cleared to play and said he's still four or five days away from being where he needs to be physically in order to return.

Been there, done that

Winning a Game 7 on the road is nothing new to the Lightning. Tampa Bay rebounded from a Game 6 loss at home in last season's Eastern Conference finals to beat the New York Rangers in Game 7 at Madison Square Garden. That previous experience gives the Lightning confidence that they can beat the Penguins in Pittsburgh.

"We went through this before as a group, so guys are definitely comfortable in this situation. They know the way we've got to play," Stamkos said. "It was a perfect example last year at Madison Square Garden. It's going to be a hostile environment. They obviously have great fans, great crowd and they're going to be behind them and we've got to play a good, solid road game like we did last year. It's tough when you can't close out at home, but this is the most exciting game of a lot of guys' careers. It's Game 7 of the conference finals to get another crack at the Stanley Cup. We'll be ready."

It also helps that Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman and forward Brian Boyle have been in this situation many times. Stralman is 7-0 in Game 7s and Boyle is 6-0. At the other end of the ice, the Penguins' Carl Hagelin is 6-1 in Game 7s. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, who has three game-winning goals in this series, is 0-3 in Game 7s in Pittsburgh. He's not worried about his track record and is focused only on the task at hand.

"The past is the past and it really doesn't matter here," Crosby said. "We've got to find a way to win."

Any butterflies, goalies?

Neither Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy nor Penguins netminder Matt Murray has played in a Game 7 in the NHL. Given the way both have played during this series, they're not showing any signs of being nervous, but butterflies are harder to contain when there's a Stanley Cup berth on the line.

Bishop said he shared some advice with Vasilevskiy.

"We talked a little bit," Bishop said. "I told him [to take] deep breaths, stay calm. There's going to be a lot of emotion out there, but the thing is, just worry about stopping the puck and don't make the game bigger than it is. It's still just another game."

Vasilevskiy, 21, enters Game 7 with a 3-3 record, a 2.87 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage in seven games this postseason. Murray, who turned 22 on Wednesday, has been solid for the Penguins and owns a 10-4 record, a 2.30 GAA and a .924 SP in 14 games this postseason. Penguins coach Mike Sullivan is not worried about the lack of experience in Game 7s for his starter.

"You'll get the same from Matt," Sullivan said. "That's how we've come to know him. That's how he is. He takes each game as it comes and he controls what he can. He's a great competitor. He's got a great makeup. I believe he's going to continue to do what he's done for us this whole postseason."

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