The New York Rangers booked a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals after beating Washington in a thrilling seven-game set. The Rangers now have a date with the young Tampa Bay Lightning, who are fresh off eliminating the Montreal Canadiens in the second round of these playoffs. Can the Lightning strike thrice after their winning in the first two rounds of the Eastern Conference Playoffs?
Read on as we take a look at five important keys that could decide this series. For more on this big Eastern Conference Finals matchup, check out our complete preview for Game 1 of the Lightning vs. Rangers.
[sc:NHLArticles ]New York Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Series Preview
Home Ice Advantage
[sc:NHL240 ]The Rangers have to be thankful for home ice advantage in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. New York has never lost a Game 7 at Madison Square Garden. Including Wednesday’s win over the Caps, the Rangers have recorded seven consecutive Game 7 wins at home dating back to 1992. They became the first team in postseason history to overcome a 3-1 series deficit in consecutive years.
Home ice may yet again come into play for the Rangers in the Eastern Conference Finals. Their opponent, Tampa Bay, has mostly struggled on the road in the regular season, going just 18-16-7. But that didn’t seem to carry over in the playoffs with the Lightning winning four of their last six road games. The Lightning won both their regular season games at Madison Square Garden.
Goalie Watch
Ben Bishop is playing in the first Stanley Cup Playoffs of his career. Nevertheless, he’s been impressive in his postseason debut thus far. Bishop is 8-5 with a 1.81 GAA and a .931 save percentage this postseason.
The Tampa Bay netminder hasn’t really faced that much firepower in the playoffs. Bishop faced Detroit (2.14 goals per game this postseason) and Montreal (2.08 this postseason) in the first two rounds of the Eastern Conference Playoffs. In the conference final, he’ll be facing another anemic offense, as the Rangers are currently 15th among the 16 playoff teams in terms of scoring.
Bishop has shown a couple of chinks in his armor though, especially when Tampa Bay sported a healthy series lead against Montreal. The Lightning failed to complete a series sweep of the Canadiens after Bishop allowed three goals on 14 shots in just 25:08 time on ice before being pulled out of the game.
New York’s goalie Henrik Lundqvist has been quite a beast in the playoffs. He is 8-4 with a 1.60 GAA and a .944 save percentage in this postseason thus far. Lundqvist has also routinely turned it up a notch when the pressure is highest, winning an NHL-record six consecutive Game 7s (allowing just one goal or less in all those games) and 10 consecutive elimination games at home ice.
Lundqvist, however, will be heavily tested by the electrifying offense of the Bolts. Lundqvist went 0-3 with a 4.75 GAA and a leaky .823 save percentage against the Lightning in the regular season.
Special Teams
New York has allowed just three power play goals on 29 opportunities for the best penalty kill percentage (89.3 percent) among the remaining four teams throughout the playoffs. That will certainly be put to the test against the fast-striking Lightning. Tampa Bay went 6-for-20 on the man advantage against the Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Lightning are 4-of-12 on power play opportunities in three regular season games against the Rangers.
Nikita Kucherov leads the Lightning with three power play goals in the playoffs. Ondrej Palat and Valtteri Flippula have also chipped in their contributions with two power play goals each. The Lightning haven’t been opportunistic only on the man advantage. They also have a pair of short handed goals, care of Brian Boyle and Cedric Paquette.
The Rangers, meanwhile, have players capable of scoring on the man advantage. Derick Brassard, Derek Stepan, Ryan McDonagh, Chris Kreider, Dan Boyle and Kevin Hayes have each scored a power play goal this postseason.
Offensive Lines
Steven Stamkos has been an excellent scorer (24 points in 22 games) against the Rangers in his regular season career. But his strong scoring hasn’t exactly translated into much success for the Lightning when they’re up against New York. The Rangers have outscored Tampa Bay by seven when Stamkos is on the ice.
The Rangers may not be able to capitalize if they are to continue missing Mats Zuccarello (concussion). The Rangers’ first line of Zuccarello, Rick Nash and Brassard is plus-seven against Stamkos’ line, which is minus-five. Without Zuccarello, the Rangers will turn to Martin St. Louis, who is minus-seven against the Lightning in his career.
Stamkos’ line isn’t without its share of injury as well. Right winger Ryan Callahan is day-to-day after undergoing emergency appendectomy on Monday. He’s being replaced by Jonathan Marchessault from the American Hockey League’s Syracuse Crunch. Marchessault has played in just five career NHL games thus far.
From the Rangers’ second line, Derek Stepan has been just as efficient as Brassard. The two share a team-high eight points. Meanwhile, Tampa Bay’s Tyler Johnson has outplayed Stamkos this postseason, leading all scorers in these playoffs with eight goals.
Team of Destiny?
Tampa Bay Lightning are 6-0-1 against the remaining Stanley Cup contenders this season. They are 3-0 against the Rangers. But beating the regular season version of the Rangers doesn’t seem as impressive in hindsight. The Rangers were 11-12 up until their final regular season loss against Tampa Bay. After losing the third game of the regular season series, the Rangers won 50 of their next 70 games, winning the President’s Trophy along the way.
The last time the Rangers won a Game 7 in overtime, they went on to raise the cup in 1994.
Writer’s Prediction
The Rangers win in seven games. Create a betting account now as your favorite teams inch closer to hoisting Lord Stanley’s Cup.
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