It’s the business end of the year, with a place in the Stanley Cup Final on the line for the victor in a New York Rangers/Tampa Bay Lightning series that sees many links between the two squads. As they say, familiarity breeds contempt, so this should be a good one!
If you’re one of those people – like I am – who believe that a team starts one series the way the ended the previous one, then momentum should be with the Rangers, who battled their way out of a 1-3 series hole to beat Washington in extraordinary fashion in Game Seven, which required overtime to settle.
Tampa, on the other hand, started on fire against the Montreal Canadiens, but lost two quick games to force a sixth contest, which they ended up winning. A series before, the Lightning required seven games to beat Detroit, who could very well have won that series themselves. Tampa haven’t exactly been consistent throughout these playoffs, so trying to work out which Lightning team are going to turn up on any given night.
One thing you can be certain of, it the good version of the team spearheaded by Steven Stamkos takes the ice, then the Rangers are going to have their work cut out for them. In some respects, the young Tampa squad might still be a season or so away from reaching their full potential. As they stand now, though, the Lightning are certainly capable of ousting New York and reaching the Stanley Cup Final.
Stamkos is their leader, but he is far from the only offensive catalyst. Just as impressive these playoffs has been the line of Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat, all three of whom have scored timely goals for the Lightning. Veteran Valtteri Filppula centred the top line, with Stamkos on one side and the ever-improving Alex Killorn on the other. This is a trio that the Rangers will have to pay close attention to. Another former Ranger, Brian Boyle, is a key cog in the Tampa machine.
One question mark offensively for the Lightning is former New York captain Ryan Callahan, who underwent an emergency appendectomy earlier this week. Whether or not he plays to his usual ability could be a huge deciding factor in this series.
As will the goalie duel, and Tampa have a good one between the pipes in Ben Bishop. He’s registered 1.81 goals against average and a .931 save percentage in thirteen games this season. His 31-save shutout of Detroit in the final game of the quarter final series was arguably his best game of the playoffs. Against the Canadiens, he was mostly on his game, aside from below-par effort in the fourth game, a blow-out win for Montreal, when Tampa could have closed out the series.
In front of Bishop are some defensive names that the Rangers know well: Anton Stralman (who wore Rangers blue this time last year) is one half of Tampa’s top defensive duo along with Victor Hedman. These two Swedes complement each other nicely, and Hedman is underrated as an offensive defenceman.
Trade deadline acquisition Braydon Coburn adds a nice touch of experience further down the depth chart, and actually scored the game-winner in the seventh game against Detroit.
The Rangers enter their third Eastern Conference Final in the last four years, and are seeking to become the first time since the 2009-09 Pittsburgh Penguins to win two straight conference titles. They are also the first team in NHL to win two playoff series from 1-3 down in back-to-back years, and head into the Tampa match-up with two players who were a part of the Lightning’s only Stanley Cup championship in 2004: forward Martin St. Louis and defenceman Dan Boyle.
New York’s ability to win starts and ends with Henrik Lundqvist in goals. Their fortunes rise and fall with the man known in New York as ‘The King’ and the Swede is a proven game-winner in these big-time situations. He’s the Rangers’ undoubted MVP, keeping them in games, or at least keeping games close, when the rest of the team are performing below par. Solving Lundqvist hasn’t been easy – ask Washington and Pittsburgh.
On their day, New York has probably the best top six defencemen remaining in the playoffs – captain Ryan McDonagh, Marc Staal, Dan Girardi, Kevin Klein, Dan Boyle and Keith Yandle. They will all need to be on point against a potent Lightning group. That’s a handy group to have in front of Lundqvist. No wonder he has a 1.60 goals allowed average to go with a .944 save percentage. Those are the best numbers for any goalie who advanced past the first round.
Offensive production has been a problem for the Rangers in these playoffs. They’ve been stuck in low-scoring, one-goal contests pretty much ever since the postseason began. They showed some signs of improvement on the power play – long a problem – late in the Caps series, and at least saw star forward Rick Nash score a goal. Sure, he hasn’t exactly had a giant playoff run, but at least he’s getting chances on net, rather than going missing completely. His playoff stats thus far are two goals and a team-high forty-five shots.
Realistically, Chris Kreider and Derrick Brassard have just about been New York’s two most consistent forwards, and Derek Stepan has had his moments, too: most notably the overtime winner that clinched the Washington series. Don’t forget the youngster Kevin Hayes, who has matured dramatically during these playoffs, and scored the vital tying power play goal against Washington in Game Seven.
In the regular season, Tampa and the Rangers played three times in less than a month, and the Lightning dominated all three, winning by a combined score of 15-8. As Henrik Lundqvist noted, the playoffs are a different story.
Prediction: I’m a hopeful Rangers fan – is there any other kind? – and I believe this team has what it takes to go all the way. It won’t be easy against a good Lightning squad. I’m expecting seven games, and a raucous Madison Square Garden to watch the Rangers qualify for the Stanley Cup Final.
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