NHL playoffs: 3 stories from Lightning-Rangers Game 7

The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the New York Rangers 2-0 in Game 7 on Friday to distinguish themselves as Eastern Conference champions and earn a trip to the Stanley Cup final.

Here are three stories from Game 7:

The trophy that matters most

If the Lightning deserve more credit for their defence than they get, then their performance against the Rangers in the series finale was the perfect example.

Tampa did not allow New York to get a shot at the net in the final seven minutes of the third period.

Just as importantly, the Lightning were also able to muster up enough offence to upstage the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

The Rangers do have a President's Trophy to show for their efforts in the regular season for being the top team with 113 points. However, they fell short of the goal of reaching the final for a second straight year, dropping a Game 7 at home for the first time in franchise history.

Meanwhile, the Lightning players took the precautionary step of not touching the Wales Trophy for fear of jinxing their chances of hoisting the cup when all is said and done.

Lightning strike twice

Just under two minutes into the final frame, Alex Killorn broke a deadlock that had spanned the first two periods.

He beat Rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist through the five hole for his seventh goal of the playoffs.

Killorn's marker would obviously hold up as the game winner, but Ondrej Palat scored a beauty of a goal to double the lead.

Tip of the hat to Ben Bishop

So there is a lot to digest as far as Bishop's performance is this game.

First of all, he didn't just record a 22-save shutout, he also helped out his own cause. The Lightning goalie tallied the secondary assist on Palat's goal -- for his third point of the playoffs.

Bishop also joined some elite company for what amounted to his second Game 7 shutout in this postseason. He also blanked the Detroit Red Wings to close out that series.