The Tampa Bay Lightning are on the brink of a return trip to the Stanley Cup Final.

Coach Jon Cooper and his players say it won’t be easy to close the deal against the Washington Capitals.

”We haven’t won anything yet Connor Williams Jersey ,” Cooper said Saturday night after Cedric Paquette scored in the opening minute and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 shots to help the Lightning hold off the Caps 3-2 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final.

Ondrej Palat and Ryan Callahan also scored as the home team won for the first time in the best-of-seven matchup, with Tampa Bay taking a 3-2 series lead and moving within one victory of advancing to the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in four seasons.

”Let’s be honest,” Cooper added. ”You’ve got to get four, not three.”

The Capitals, in the conference final for the first time in the Alex Ovechkin era, have lost three straight after winning twice on the road to begin the series.

Ovechkin scored with 1:36 remaining, trimming what once was a three-goal lead to one, however Vasilevskiy made three more saves to finish the victory.

Game 6 is Monday night in Washington, where Tampa Bay has already won to improve to 5-1 on the road this postseason.

”We have a lot of unfinished business. This isn’t even close to being over,” Callahan said. ”This last game’s definitely the hardest against a very, very good Washington team. ”To go in their building and try to close it out is going to be tough.”

The Capitals were encouraged by the way they finished the game and are confident they can force the series back to Tampa for Game 7.

”This group has got its backs against the wall, and this group has responded all year,” coach Barry Trotz said. ”I don’t expect anything different.”

The Capitals won the first two games on the road, scoring 10 goals on Vezina Trophy finalist Vasilevskiy and sending the Lightning – won had the best record in the East during the regular season – into desperation mode.

Tampa Bay responded by winning Game 3 in Washington, evening the series despite being outshot and outplayed for sizeable stretches of a 4-2 victory in Game 4 and returning home Jaire Alexander Youth Jersey , where Cooper was confident the Lightning would be better than they were in the first two games.

Turns out Cooper was right.

Washington’s Dmitry Orlov turned the puck over in the neutral zone on the opening shift of the night and Callahan made the Caps pay for the mistake, feeding Paquette for a 1-0 lead just 19 seconds into the game.

Palat’s second goal of the series made it 2-0. Tampa Bay extended the advantage to three goals when Callahan scored 33 seconds into the second period.

Outshot 13-4 and limited to one scoring opportunity in the opening period, the Caps began to put some pressure on Vasilevskiy in the second.

Evgeny Kuznetsov scored a goal in his fourth straight game, giving him a franchise single-year, playoff-best 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists) and trimming Washington’s deficit to 3-1 at 4:21 of the period.

The Capitals kept pressing in the third period, but didn’t breakthrough against until Ovechkin scored his 11th goal this postseason.

”It’s not frustrating,” Ovechkin said. ”Of course, when you lose a game you feel bad. We just had a bad start. We didn’t handle the puck in the neutral zone. They got a lucky bounce and put in the first goal. That gave them momentum.”

”It’s disappointing, but I thought our second two periods were great,” Capitals winger T.J. Oshie said. ”We showed a lot of character. Character doesn’t always win you games, but I think it’s going to be important to have that feeling going into Game 6 at home.”

Notes: The road team won each of the first four games of a series for the sixth time in the last 10 years and 26th time in Stanley Cup playoffs history. Under that scenario, the road team has won Game 5 only three times. … Paquette’s goal was his first in the playoffs since Game 3 of the 2015 Stanley Cup Final, ending a 34-game drought for the 24-year-old center. … At 19 seconds of the opening period, Palat’s goal was not the fastest to start a game in Lightning history. Adam Hall scored for Tampa Bay 13 seconds into Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final against Boston in 2011. … Capitals winger Andre Burakovsky was a game-time scratch.

—

鈥?Steve Wilks is the new head coach of the Arizona Cardinals Josh Jackson Packers Jersey , and chances are he won’t tread meekly into his new job.“Steve’s personality is as an aggressive guy,” his ex-boss, Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera, said.Wilks, 48, spent last season as defensive coordinator of the Panthers after five seasons as the team’s secondary coach. He’s been an NFL assistant for 12 years.Wilks replaces the colorful and outspoken Bruce Arians, who retired after five seasons and compiled a franchise-record 50 victories.With the hiring of Wilks, all three major football programs in the state have African-American coaches 鈥?Wilks, Herm Edwards at Arizona State and Kevin Sumlin at Arizona. Wilks is the Cardinals’ second African-American coach (Dennis Green was the first) and the only minority candidate to get an NFL head coaching job this hiring cycle.The Cardinals were 8-8 last season despite a myriad of significant injuries and closed out Arians’ career with a win in Seattle.“This is not really a rebuild, this is a retool,” Wilks told azcardinals. “We have the culture of winning here. We just have to be able to sustain it. It’s all about trying to get to the next level and the consistency you need to get to the next level.”Patrick Peterson, perennial Pro Bowl cornerback and a leader of the Arizona defense, tweeted simply “I LOVE IT.”Azcardinals released a brief video of Wilks talking to Arizona fans.“I’d like to introduce myself to the ‘Bird Gang,'” he said. “This is your head coach Steve Wilks. I’m so excited about building something great here. It’s all about trying to create a commitment to excellence and I can’t wait to see you guys at the Red Sea.”Wilks was in Arizona for a second interview last week and was interviewed for the Tennessee job, which went to Mike Vrabel. Wilks also coached for 11 years at the collegiate level Deion Sanders Jersey , including a one-year stint as head coach at Savannah State in 1999.The Cardinals planned to introduce Wilks as coach at a news conference Tuesday at team headquarters.Wilks played defensive back at Appalachian State, attended the Seattle Seahawks training camp and played for the Charlotte Rage of the Arena Football League.He worked his way up through the college assistant coaching ranks with stops at Johnson C. Smith in Charlotte, Savannah State, Illinois State, Appalachian State, East Tennessee State, Bowling Green, Notre Dame and Washington.Wilks’ first NFL job was as defensive backs coach of the Chicago Bears. He held a similar job with the San Diego Chargers for three seasons before joining the Panthers staff.Under Wilks this season, the Panthers ranked seventh in total defense.Speaking about Wilks last week, his Charlotte players were supportive.“I think he gets guys to relate to him, get on the same page, get on the same scheme,” defensive end Charles Johnson said. “He comes to work every day and guys respect that. Just his whole personality. His mentality of getting guys to play how you want to play. He’s a good coach for that.”In an interview last fall, linebacker Luke Kuechly said, “Steve Wilks and all those guys are doing an excellent job of game-planning and putting us in position to be successful and utilizing what we do well. Those coaches listen (to the players).“They’re not hard-headed. They do a great job with us. They motivate us. They do a good job of making sideline corrections and in-game adjustments. It’s fun to play for them.”The Cardinals were the last team to fill a coaching vacancy Evander Kane Sharks Jersey , just as they were in 2013 when they hired Arians, who won his second NFL coach of the year award in his second season with the team.Last week, Rivera talked about Wilks’ coaching potential.“I know that Steve is a hot commodity, deservedly so,” Rivera said. ‘He has done a tremendous job wherever he’s been, starting in Chicago and San Diego and down here with us. It’s going to be a tough one. Him and Sean (McDermott) are two very good people who are very special to this organization.”Wilks replaced McDermott as Carolina defensive coordinator when McDermott was named head coach at Buffalo a year ago.The Cardinals have a head coach with a background in defense for the first time since Dave McGinnis was hired 17 years ago. Wilks’ first task probably is to hire an offensive coordinator, a move that’s particularly important because the retirement of Carson Palmer left Arizona with no quarterback.And general manager Steve Keim is turning his attention full-time to finding that elusive quarterback, through a trade, free agency, the draft or any combination of the three.AP Pro Football Writer Teresa Walker in Nashville and AP Sports Writer Steve Reed in Charlotte contributed to this report..