Mike Sullivan believes keeping cool under pressure is simply a trait Matt Murray was born with.

"I just think that's part of his DNA ... He doesn't get rattled," the Pittsburgh Penguins head coach said after his goaltender stopped 29 of 31 shots in Tuesday night's Game 6 win.

Murray was named the Game 6 starter earlier Tuesday after Sullivan opted to start Marc-Andre Fleury in Pittsburgh's Game 5 loss.

"My job isn't to worry about (who starts)," Murray said postgame. "My job is to be ready if my name is called, then play my heart out and compete."

His teammates had nothing but praise for him after his strong play forced Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Final.

"He doesn't look like a young kid who is feeling the pressure," Penguins forward Chris Kunitz said, according to NHL.com's Dan Rosen. "If he was we probably wouldn't be playing this many games."

Patric Hornqvist agrees, saying, "He's (22) years old but he plays like he's 30. Can't say enough about him."

The Penguins have leaned on Murray for most of their playoff run this spring, and for the most part, he's delivered.

The rookie is 10-4 with 2.30 GAA and .924 save percentage in the postseason.

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The Pittsburgh Penguins forced a winner-take-all Game 7 with a crushing 5-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.

The Lightning failed to take advantage of a 3-2 series lead and Game 6 on home ice, and now head coach Jon Cooper knows his team needs to respond.

"They volleyed the ball into our court, now it's time for us to smash it back," Cooper said, according to Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times.

The Lightning were outscored 3-0 in the first 40 minutes, a hill too high for them to climb, as the team fell short of a comeback after bringing the game within one at 3-2.

"They played better than us for two periods. That's it," said Cooper. "We have to play better than them, that's the bottom line."

The Lightning will now play in their second Eastern Conference Final Game 7 in as many years, something Cooper knows will be in the minds of his players.

"What I can take from last year is we went to Game 7 and we won Game 7," Cooper said, according to NHL.com's Dan Rosen. "I bet we'll be thinking about that."

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Judging by this call of Kris Letang's Game 6 goal Tuesday night, there's at least one wrestling fan on the Hockey Night Punjabi crew.

"Bang bang, Kris Letang" is an amazing call on its own, but including a reference to former wrestler Mick Foley - who used "bang bang" as his catchphrase - made it even better.

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TAMPA, Fla. -The Pittsburgh Penguins are headed home for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final.

Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist, and Phil Kessel, Kris Letang, Bryan Rust and Nick Bonino also scored Tuesday night in a 5-2 victory that evened the best-of-seven series at three games.

Game 7 is Thursday night, with the Penguins hoping to reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2009 and the Lightning looking to advance to the Cup Final for the second straight year.

Crosby assisted on Kessel's 5-on-3 power-play goal in the opening period and skated around Tampa Bay defenseman Anton Stralman into the clear before sending a wrist shot between goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy's legs for a 3-0 lead in the final minute of the second period.

Rookie goaltender Matt Murray returned to the lineup after being replaced as the starter for Game 5 by Marc-Andre Fleury, but his 10th playoff victory did not come without a bit of suspense.

Brian Boyle scored twice in the third period for Tampa Bay, with one of the goals bouncing off Kessel before getting past Murray, who finished with 28 saves. The second score drew the Lightning within one goal with 7:17 remaining.

Rust's breakaway goal gave Pittsburgh breathing room and Bonino added an empty-netter to finish it off.

Kessel's goal was his team-leading ninth of the playoffs. Crosby had the primary assist, his first point since delivering game-winners in Games 2 and 3, and Evgeni Malkin also had an assist to extend his point streak to four games after a slow start in the series.

The Lightning had an apparent goal by Jonathan Drouin waived off a little more than five minutes into the game, when Penguins coach Mike Sullivan successfully challenged that the young Tampa Bay winger was offside on the play before tapping in a rebound off Ondrej Palat's shot that bounced off Murray's pads.

Sullivan announced the decision to go back to Murray following Tuesday's morning skate, with the Penguins facing elimination for the first time this postseason.

Murray started the first four games of the series. Fleury replaced him during the third period of Game 4, then made his first start in nearly two months in Game 5, which Tampa Bay won 4-3 in overtime.

Sullivan said he was switching back to Murray because ''just like we make all our lineup decisions, we try to put players on the ice that we think give us the best chance to win.''

Before Game 5, Fleury had not started a game since March 31, when he suffered a concussion.

Tampa Bay entered the game determined to not come out flat in Game 6 of the conference final for the second straight year.

The Lightning beat the New York Rangers on the road to go up 3-2 in that series, but were badly outplayed at home the next game and had to return to Madison Square Garden to finish the series.

Now, they'll have to win on the road again to make the third Stanley Cup appearance in franchise history.

NOTES: The Penguins were 1 for 3 on the power play and are 4 for 19 in the series. The Lightning were 0 for 1, dropping to 2 for 12. ... Malkin was penalized in the first period for slashing Tampa Bay Bay's Ryan Callahan in what appeared to be retaliation for the Lightning forward whacking him across the wrist with his stick. ... Murray improved to 4-0 following a loss. He's 10-4 overall in the playoffs.

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Bryan Rust crushed any hopes of a Tampa Bay Lightning comeback.

After Brian Boyle responded with two third-period goals to narrow the Pittsburgh Penguins lead to 3-2, Rust halted the club's rally, beating Andrei Vasilevskiy with a gorgeous breakaway effort.

The goal was Rust's sixth point of the postseason and third of the series.

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The naysayers are awfully quiet right now.

Sidney Crosby scored a critical insurance marker Tuesday night in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final, and he did it in typical highlight-reel fashion.

The Pittsburgh Penguins captain gained the puck in the neutral zone, shook two Tampa Bay Lightning defenders, and buried a lethal shot five-hole on Andrei Vasilevskiy to give the Penguins a 3-0 lead late in the second period.

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Hockey Night in Canada paid tribute to Gord Downie before Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final on Tuesday night.

The opening montage featured clips of the Tragically Hip frontman and highlights from the series set to "Courage (For Hugh MacLennan)."

Downie, a rock legend and die-hard Boston Bruins fan, is on the minds of many Canadians following Tuesday morning's revelation that he was diagnosed with a terminal form of brain cancer.

Kudos to Sportsnet for putting this together on relatively short notice.

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Phil Kessel continues to marvel in the postseason.

The Pittsburgh Penguins forward made the best of a whiffed cross-ice pass by Sidney Crosby, batting the puck out of the air to give his club a 1-0 lead in a win-or-go-home Game 6.

Kessel's ninth extends his team-lead in goals and gives him 18 points in 17 games.

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The Stanley Cup Final will begin in six days.

Game 1 of the championship round will be played Monday, May 30. Here's the complete schedule, as announced by the NHL on Tuesday:

*If necessary

The team with the greatest number of points during the regular season gets home-ice advantage for the series.

The Tampa Bay Lightning lead the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 in the Eastern Conference Final, while the San Jose Sharks hold the same advantage over the St. Louis Blues in the West.

The Blues had the most points (107) among the four remaining clubs.

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