Tampa Bay Lightning Hope To Complete Season Sweep Of The New York Rangers
The Tampa Bay Lightning are heading back on the road once again tonight as they travel to Madison Square Garden to square off with Ryan McDonagh and the New York Rangers for the third and final time this season.
More from Lightning News
- Tampa Bay Lightning: Maxim Groshev Stands Out at Rookie Showcase
- Mikhail Sergachev hints a renewed vigor for the Tampa Bay Lightning
- How will Tyler Motte fit in with the Tampa Bay Lightning?
- Darren Raddysh Looks to Have Inside Track for Tampa Bay Lightning
- What does Brandon Hagel’s deal mean for the Tampa Bay Lightning?
As you can imagine, coming off of the record-setting home stand that the Lightning just completed, the Bolts are looking forward to completing the sweep and bringing home another win against the Blue Shirts.
The Tampa Bay Lightning has won their last three games in a row, which helped them to complete the record-setting home stand that we previously referenced. On the other hand, the Rangers have been on a bit of a streak of their own.
The Rangers have won their last two games; both were part of a home and home back-to-back against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Rangers last loss came at the hands of, you guessed it, the Tampa Bay Lightning.
If you break this encounter down solely by the numbers, then these two teams are pretty evenly matched. Unfortunately, there are some occasions where numbers can be deceiving.
The New York Rangers are a pretty solid team, there is no denying that. The good news is, so is the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Bolts have four full lines of players that are more than capable of finding their way to the scoreboard, including a line that has come to be known as “The Triplets.”
The line of Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, and Nikita Kucherov is responsible for 20 goals and 38 assists for a total of 58 points so far this season. In addition to “The Triplets,” there has been another line that has seemingl come into their own.
The recent pairing of Steven Stamkos, Ryan Callahan, and Alex Killorn has paid off pretty well. This line is responsible for five points in the Lightning’s encounter against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.
Another thing that the Lightning have at their advantage is the return of Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman. While Hedman may not have found his way onto the score sheet in his first game back, his presence was definitely felt on the ice.
Given that the Tampa Bay Lightning are heading into yet another back-to-back, we can expect that one of the two encounters will see some play from Lightning goaltender Evgeni Nabokov. If our intuition is correct, we will more than likely see Bishop get the start in net against the Rangers, and Nabokov to face the Buffalo Sabres.
Ben Bishop is currently seated third in the National Hockey League in wins with 14, surpassed only by Vancouver Canucks netminder Ryan Miller with 15 and Nashville Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne with 16. So far this season, Bishop has maintained a Save Percentage of .917 and a Goals Allowed Average of 2.27.
It is unknown at this point who will receive the nod between the pipes for the Blue Shirts tonight, but each of the potential options are very viable contenders.
Henrik Lundqvist has gone 9-6-3 in his 18 games this season with a Save Percentage of .911 and a Goals Allowed Average of 2.57. At the same time, Cam Talbot has gone 2-2-1 in his 6 encounters with a Save Percentage of .924 and a GAA of 2.21.
There is one distinct disadvantage that the Rangers will have heading into tonight’s game. The Rangers will more than likely be taking the ice without the help of left wing Tanner Glass, who has come down with a case of the Mumps, and defenseman Dan Boyle, who has been diagnosed with a case of the flu.
There are a few things that are going to be key to a Lightning win in Madison Square Garden. The first of which is going to be to neutralize the Rangers’ offense. There are two people in particular that the Lightning will need to keep their eyes on; wingers Rick Nash and former Lightning captain Martin St. Louis.
Nash leads the Rangers in points with 16 goals and 9 assists for a total of 25 points. St. Louis is not far behind Nash. Sitting in second place on the team in points, St. Louis has already acquired 9 goals and 10 assists for a total of 19 points.
Another key is going to be minimizing turnovers in the neutral and defensive zones. While it is a goaltender’s job to keep the puck out of the net, there is only so much one man can do when the team hand the puck over to the other team right in front of the net.
While the Lightning has seemingly got this issue under control, we can’t risk falling back into bad habits if we want to bring home a win over the Blue Shirts.
One of the other keys to a win tonight is going to be putting pressure on the goaltender. In other words, stop overpassing the puck and take the shot. Not every single shot is going to be a gem; however, if there is a person placed properly in front of the net, the opportunity is almost always there to net a rebound.
Even the most skilled goaltender in the game is going to flinch once when the puck continually flies in their direction like a flurry.
What do you think the score will be when the final buzzer sounds at Madison Square Garden? Who do you think will strike first blood for the Lightning? Do you think the Bolts have what it takes to execute a season sweep of the New York Rangers? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
The puck drops at 7:00 p.m. tonight. Make sure you are ready to Be The Thunder with all of us here in the Bolts Nation.
More from Bolts by the Bay
- Tampa Bay Lightning: Maxim Groshev Stands Out at Rookie Showcase
- Tampa Bay Lightning Atlantic Division Preview: Boston Bruins
- Do the Tampa Bay Lightning provide Tyler Motte with career stability?
- Mikhail Sergachev hints a renewed vigor for the Tampa Bay Lightning
- Four training camp battles to watch with the Tampa Bay Lightning