Tonight at 7 p.m. ET, the Tampa Bay Lightning (16-6-2, 34 points) and New York Rangers (11-8-4, 26 points) face-off for the third and final time this season live from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The game can be live streamed here. Tampa Bay fans can hear all of the action on WDAE 620 while New York fans can do the same on 98.7 ESPN New York.
Tampa Bay has won three straight games and sits atop the Atlantic Division with 34 points, tied for the best in the NHL, while New York has rattled off two consecutive victories. The Lightning look for the season sweep after topping the Rangers twice, including this past Wednesday by a 4-3 score.
The Lightning are coming off of a 4-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday that saw former Rangers captain Ryan Callahan notch his 11th tally of the season.
Callahan has four goals and five points against New York in two games thus far this season and was announced as one of the NHL's three stars last week.
Tampa Bay has been paced by Steven Stamkos, who is third in the league with 15 goals and fifth with 28 points while Tyler Johnson has six goals and a team-best 17 assists to rank second on the Lightning with 23 points and Callahan has added 10 assists to his 11 goals for 21 points.
"We have four lines that can score; we don't have to rely on one or two guys or a line or two," Johnson said about the Lightning's success thus far, according to NHL.com.
The Rangers have returned to third place in the Metropolitan Division after sweeping a home-and-home against the Philadelphia Flyers over the weekend. The Blueshirts won 3-0 Friday in the NHL's Thanksgiving Showdown and then notched a 5-2 win Saturday afternoon.
Jesper Fast notched his first-career NHL goal in Saturday's matinee.
"I [am] definitely going to keep [the puck] for a good memory; keep it back home somewhere and put it with my other pucks," Fast told NHL.com afterward.
Rick Nash has led the Rangers thus far this season as he ranks second in the league with 16 goals and has a team-best 25 points. Derick Brassard (eight markers, 11 helpers), who scored two goals in Saturday's win, is tied with Martin St. Louis (nine goals, 10 assists) with 19 points on the campaign.
In net, New York is slated to turn to Henrik Lundqvist and he is 9-6-3 with a 2.57 goals-against average and .911 save percentage this season while ranking tied for the league lead with four shutouts.
Tampa Bay is likely to counter with Ben Bishop, who owns great career numbers against the Blueshirts and is third in the NHL with 14 wins while adding a 2.27 GAA and a .917 save percentage.
The Lightning and Rangers skate against each other for the final time this season when the puck drops at Madison Square Garden tonight in New York.
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