Who: New York Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
Where: Amalie Arena
When: Thursday night at 7:30 PM
Watch: MSG Network beginning at 7:00 PM
Listen: ESPN-98.7 FM and NewYorkRangers.com
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The Skinny:
Thursday night in Tampa the streaking Rangers (14-2-2, 30 pts) confront their demons from last spring when they face off with the Lightning (8-9-3, 19 pts) for the first time this season. Of course it was the Lightning that beat the Rangers in the seven-game Eastern Conference Final, denying New York a second consecutive chance to play for the Stanley Cup last season. This season, though, the Lightning have yet to resemble their Eastern Conference champion selves, while the Rangers are off to the best start in franchise history. The Rangers have won nine games in a row, and a victory Thursday in Tampa would equal the longest win streak in franchise history, ten games, set in 1939-40 and 1972-73. During the current winning streak the Rangers have outscored the opposition 33-13; and on the season New York’s goal differential of +25 is tied with Montreal for tops in the NHL. Overall through 18 games the Rangers have allowed the fewest goals in the NHL (32) and scored the third most (57). Henrik Lundqvist, who starts in goal Thursday, leads the league with a 1.69 GAA and .947 save percentage, while defensemen Ryan McDonagh (second, +13) and Kevin Klein (third, +12) have two of the best plus/minus marks in the NHL so far. New York’s latest victims were the Toronto Maple Leafs, who fell 4-3 at The Garden on Sunday. Mats Zuccarello scored the game-winner in the final minute of play, while Derick Brassard, Ryan McDonagh (3 goals in 4 games) and Derek Stepan also found the back of the net. Head coach Alain Vigneault revealed on Wednesday that Dan Boyle will return to the lineup against the Lightning, and that rookie Dylan McIlrath will be a healthy scratch along with forward Emerson Etem. The banged-up Lightning, who are tied for third place in the Atlantic Division despite a losing record, a -3 goal differential, trouble winning at home, and a shocking lack of offensive firepower, likely will be without four regular forwards on Thursday. Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson, and Cedric Paquette are out injured, and former Rangers captain Ryan Callahan is questionable due to an upper body injury. In addition, youg forward Jonathan Drouin remains out injured, as well. Tampa Bay has been forced to use 28 different players already this season, including three goalies. That could go a long way to explaining the team’s struggles, especially during a 3-7-2 stretch in which the Lightning have scored 19 goals entering play on Thursday. The Lightning was shut out by Roberto Luongo and the Florida Panthers on Monday, and have now been blanked four times this season. They have also been held to one goal or fewer in nine of their 20 contests, so far, a stunning number when considering the vast array of offensively gifted players on the team.
Head To Head:
Thursday night will mark the first time since Game Seven of the Eastern Conference Final on May 29 that the Rangers have faced off with the Lightning. Of course the Lightning shut out the Rangers 2-0 at Madison Square Garden that night, advancing to the Stanley Cup Final while ending the Rangers season. In New York’s last visit to Amalie Arena three days prior in Game Six of the conference final, the Rangers kept their season alive with a wild 7-3 victory in which the visitors scored five times in the third period. Derick Brassard recorded a Hat Trick and totaled five points in Game Six, while Rick Nash and J.T. Miller each posted a four-point performance. In the series the Rangers won two of three in Tampa, scoring a whopping sum 17 goals in those three road contests. Overall in the series, Brassard paced New York with four goals and eight points, while Nash and Keith Yandle both recorded seven points. Tyler Johnson led Tampa Bay with nine points in the seven-game series. During the 2014-15 regular season the Rangers lost all three games against Tampa Bay, dropping the only contest played at Amalie Arena, 4-3 on November 26. Mats Zuccarello, Dan Boyle, and Nash scored for the Rangers in that contest. The Rangers have lost four straight regular season games against the Lightning, and five of their last six overall.
Players To Watch:
Rangers-Mats Zuccarello: Now tied for eighth in the NHL’s scoring race with 18 points in 18 games, Mats Zuccarello is coming off his third three-point game of the season, and second in his last three contests. Sunday night at The Garden Zuccarello scored the game-winning goal with under a minute remaining in regulation, and also dished out a pair of gorgeous assists, just two games after another one goal, two-assist performance against the St. Louis Blues. Off to the best start in his career, Zuccarello is playing at a higher level than when he led the Rangers in scoring two seasons ago, registering a career-high 59 points. Zuccarello has nine goals already this season—including his first NHL Hat Trick—just about halfway to his career-high of 19 established in 2013-14; and he is tied for fifth among the league’s goal-scoring leaders so far this season. Watching Zuccarello play at this level, inspiring his teammates every step of the way, makes one wonder if the outcome of the Rangers Eastern Conference Final series with the Lightning last spring might have been different had he been healthy enough to play. Nonetheless, Zuccarello is healthy now, and he was just named as the NHL’s second star from last week, clearly playing at the top of his game.
Lightning-Steven Stamkos: It’s hard to imagine a bigger story evolving over the course of this season for the Lightning then the pending unrestricted free agency of their superstar captain Steven Stamkos. If Stamkos does not sign a contract during the season, he would instantly become the No. 1 free agent target next summer, quite possibly a $10 million per year player with no shortage of suitors lined up to pay for his services. Stamkos is only 25 years old and is a career point-per-game player who has already recorded 512 points in 512 career games, including 285 goals scored over the first seven-plus seasons of his career. If not for a serious injury which wiped out most of his 2013-14 campaign, Stamkos would have reached 300 goals by this time already. A four-time 40+-goal scorer, who netted a whopping 60 in 2011-12, Stamkos leads Tampa Bay with nine goals and 14 points through 20 games, so far. His five power play goals are one shy of the league lead. Last spring Stamkos notched seven goals and 18 points in the playoffs, appearing in his first Stanley Cup Final. However, he received much criticism down in Tampa for not scoring more, though four of his goals and seven of his points did come against the Rangers in the conference final.
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