Ondrej Palat may have scored the winning goal, but Nikita Kucherov was the engine of Lightning's victory over

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the Rangers on Sunday in match 3 of the Eastern Conference final.

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Match 4 was Palat time to shine. Quite simply, he was the best ice player.

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Two nights after being beneficiary of a sublime pass from Kucherov on the decisive goal in the last minute,

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Palat made the favor Tuesday in Amalie Arena. The smart, qualified and robust games of Palat have established goals

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from Kucherov and Steven Stamkos, stimulating lightning at a 4-1 victory that equaled the series with two games each.

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With a little less than seven minutes to play in the second period, Palat took Kucherov on a breakaway with a pass in

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the center of the ice. With defender Ryan Lindgren apparently thinking that he would play the plates washer just outside the Lightning Blue Line [{ "selector": ".tppsu-a", "duration": "500ms", "fill": "forwards", "delay": "500ms", "keyframes": [ {"offset": 0, "transform": "rotate(-580deg) scale(0.1)", "opacity": 1}, {"offset": 1, "transform": "rotate(0deg) scale(1)", "opacity": 1} ] }]

Palat spotted Kucherov in the offensive zone. He turned and put a bread pass on the Kucherov stick.

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Kucherov striated in the slit and beat Igor Shesterkin between the legs to give lightning a 2-0 lead. This has become the winning goal.

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