SAN JOSE (AP) – With home ice advantage tonight the San Jose Sharks can finish off the St. Louis Blues and advance to the NHL’s Stanley Cup Finals. The Sharks took a 3-2 series lead Monday night with a 6-3 win in St. Louis. Should the Blues prevail this evening, the seventh and final game will be played Friday night back in St. Louis.
The NHL’s Eastern Conference finals are heading back to Pittsburgh. Matt Murray stopped 28 shots and the Penguins forced a seventh game by defeating the Lightning 5-2 in Tampa. Murray was back in goal after Marc-Andre Fleury’s struggled in the Pens’ loss in Game 5. Phil Kessel, Kris Letang and Sidney Crosby scored to give the Penguins a 3-0 lead through two periods. Brian Boyle beat Murray twice in a 7:13 span of the third period to whittle the Lightning’s deficit to 3-2, but the Pens iced the victory on Bryan Rust’s goal with 2:08 remaining. Nick Bonino added an empty-netter. Game 7 is Thursday night, when the Penguins will try to secure their first Stanley Cup finals appearance in seven years. The Lightning are trying to reach the finals for the second straight season.