5 Takeaways from Lightning vs. Rangers Game Three

5. Finally Getting to their Game

In the first two games of the series, the Lightning were never able to get to play their game the way they wanted to. They never were able to impose their will on the Rangers. And truthfully, they did more to fuel the Rangers game far more than their own. Between being careless with the puck and defensive breakdowns, the Lightning hurt themselves in the first two games and the Rangers made them pay for it.

Game three was much better as the Lightning were able to limit their mistakes and not fuel the attack for New York. The Lightning did not give up a single goal at five-on-five in the game as they were able to spend a lot more time on offense rather than defending in their own zone.

Obviously, the sense of urgency that the Lightning came out with drove the Lightning to be on the attack a bit more, but that was something we did not see in the first two games. They did spend significantly more time in their attacking end in game three and had over 50 shots on goal while only giving up 30 to show for it.

4. They will Always Fight Back

It is tough to find situations that the Lightning have not seen over the last three playoff runs. They have never been down 2-0 down in a series until now, but it was never a hole that seemed too big for this team. They have had the answer to every situation along the way.

On top of the series defecit, they trailed 2-0 in this game alone. So many Lightning teams from yesteryear would have crumbled right after going down 2-0 in this game. There will always be a belief that this team will have an answer because they always do. If you are going to knock this team out, you are going to have to absolutely bury them. Because if they have even a gasp of air, they are never out.

3. Vasilevskiy has Arrived in this Series

In the first two games of the series, we never saw Andrei Vasilevskiy in peak form. Maybe it did take two full games to return to form, but Vasilevskiy had his best performance of the series in game three to outduel Igor Shesterkin.

This was the first time in the series where a game lived up to expectation that it would be a goaltending battle. Shesterkin was forced to make more saves by seeing a higher shot volume, but Vasilevskiy made a number of timely saves that the Lightning absolutely needed.

Maybe now that Vasilevskiy has gotten back into top form, we will continue to see that the rest of the series.

2. Special Teams were Huge

The Lightning really had not gotten a lot of powerplay action in the first two games of the series, but it came up big for them in game three. The Lightning scored twice on four attempts on the way to coming back from down 2-0 in the game. Nikita Kucherov’s powerplay goal was huge in the second period to give them a spark of life.

With the powerplays being few and far between, you have to take advantage when you have them, and the Lightning were able to do that in game three.

Despite both Ranger goals coming on the powerplay in the second period, the Lightning penalty kill was still able to come up with some timely kills. The biggest coming late in the third period following a four-minute opportunity on the powerplay. The Lightning penalty killers pressured hard and even drew a penalty to even things up.

1. You have to Live with Kucherov

Nikita Kucherov is undoubtedly an incredible player. He can also be an incredibly frustrating player as well. Between careless giveaways and ill-advised penalties, he can seem like a complete liability at times. Ultimately, you must take the good with the bad with him.

For every mistake there may be, there will be a incredible play right after to make you forget. Nobody will care at all especially after assists like he had on Palat’s game winner late in the third period. Just another example of the ability of Kucherov to distribute the puck like few can.

To top it off, Kucherov had a three-point outing in game three and has factored in on the scoring of each of the last five Lightning goals in the series.