Tampa Bay, May 23: Tampa Bay advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in franchise history with a 2-1 victory over Philadelphia in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals. Behind 22 saves by Nikolai Khabibulin, Tampa Bay advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in franchise history with a 2-1 victory over Philadelphia in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals. The Lightning, playing in front of a record home crowd of 22,117, scored first for the sixth time in the series, and never looked back. They advanced to face the Calgary Flames in the Cup Finals, which begin on Tuesday at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa.
Former Flyer Ruslan Fedotenko scored his sixth of the series, and Fredrik Modin added a goal for the top-seeded Lightning, who were just 1:49 away from advancing in Game 6 until Flyers captain Keith Primeau scored to send the contest into overtime.


Philadelphia would later win the game on Simon Gagne's goal in overtime, but there were no such heroics in this one for the third-seeded Flyers.


Their only goal came from defenseman Kim Johnsson, as the dangerous line of Primeau, Gagne and Jeremy Roenick, which combined for eight points in Game 6, was held scoreless.


Bureau Report