TAMPA, Florida: Having lost two straight and facing the possibility of a Game Seven on the road in Montreal, the Tampa Bay Lightning buckled down and closed out their Eastern Conference semifinal with a 4-1 win over the Canadiens at their Amalie Arena on Tuesday.

Goaltender Ben Bishop stopped the first 18 shots he faced as the Lightning wrapped up the series 4-2 and advanced to the conference final for just the third time.

Tampa Bay, who raced to a 3-0 series lead but saw that cushion cut after two losses, secured the clinching win without right winger Ryan Callahan, who was sidelined after an emergency appendectomy late on Monday.

Fans held up signs with his “24” jersey number in the stands while his team mates played with purpose and confidence.

Tampa Bay got three more goals from the red-hot line of Nikita Kucherov, Ondrej Palat and Tyler Johnson, with Kucherov opening the scoring in the first period and closing it out with an empty netter late in the third.

Palat scored in the second period, as did Steven Stamkos to make it 3-0 heading into the third.

Bishop outdueled Montreal goalie Carey Price, who had stepped up in the Canadiens’ two wins. Tampa Bay did not give up a goal until Montreal winger Max Pacioretty scored with 4:57 left in the final period. (Editing by Cameron French/Peter Rutherford)

Belarus grabs last quarterfinal spot; US, Canada win

Belarus secured the last spot in the quarterfinals of the hockey world championship by beating Norway 3-2 on Tuesday, while the United States beat Slovakia in overtime and Canada thrashed Austria in their final group games.

Captain Alexei Kalyuzhny, Dmitri Korobov and Andrei Kostitsyn all scored power-play goals to help Belarus reach the quarterfinals for the second straight year. Norway replied with goals from Patrick Thoresen and Mattias Norstebo.

“We were looking good at 3-0 but Norway are a good team and they came back hard,” Belarus forward Andrei Stepanov said. “It was hard at the end.”

Belarus will face Canada in the next round.

Jack Eichel scored on a wrist shot with 28 seconds left in overtime to give the US a 5-4 victory over Slovakia as the Americans finished first in their group with six wins and one loss. The result means the young US team will meet Switzerland in the quarterfinals.

“It was great to get the goal there,” said the 18-year-old Eichel, who is No. 2 on the 2015 NHL draft. “It’s good for us to win our bracket and be able to control our own destiny.”

The US blew a 3-0 lead after goals from Ben Smith, Seth Jones and Anders Lee. Marian Gaborik, Adam Janosik, Vladimir Dravecky and Milan Bartovic put Slovakia ahead before Charlie Coyle tied the game at 4-4 with 52 seconds remaining in the second period to force overtime.

The Canadians wrapped up the group stage by routing Austria 10-1, getting two goals and two assists apiece from Colorado Avalanche forward Matt Duchene and Dallas Stars forward Jason Spezza.

“We played a really good 60 minutes, and obviously the score reflected it,” Duchene said of Canada’s second double-figure victory after crushing Germany 10-0.

“It obviously shows we have a lot of skill on this hockey team and everybody can score. Everybody’s contributing pretty equally. That’s a really good thing, a sign of a really good team.”

Canada rested Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby.

The Canadians got the remaining six goals from six different players — Tyson Barrie, Taylor Hall, Aaron Ekbland, Nathan MacKinnon, Jordan Eberle and Brayden Schenn.

“We want to get past the quarters and win it this year. We want to win this tournament,” Duchene said.

Canada is looking for its 25th title. It last won in 2007 and has been waiting for a medal since winning silver in 2009.

The star-studded Canadian team dominated Group A with seven wins from seven games, scoring 49 goals on the way, to place first ahead of Sweden, host Czech Republic and Switzerland.

“They’re a skilled team, a team that’s dangerous,” Hall said of Belarus. “They showed that through the tournament.”

In a match of two bottom teams in Group A, France beat Latvia 3-2 after a penalty shootout. Austria and Slovenia will be relegated to the second-tier tournament next year.

Finland and defending champion Russia, who are tied with 14 points in Group B, three behind the US, met in their last group game later Tuesday. The winner will take on the Czech Republic in the knockout stage and the loser will play Sweden.

All four quarterfinals games are scheduled for Thursday.