Tonight at 8 p.m. ET, the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers face-off for Game 7 of their Eastern Conference Final series live from Madison Square Garden in New York City as part of the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Tampa Bay looks to eliminate its opponent in its second try to advance to its first Stanley Cup Final since it won it all in 2004 while New York hopes to avoid elimination for a second consecutive contest and advance to the final round for the second straight year.
The Rangers took Game 1 of this series 2-1 while the Lightning bounced back to take the next two contests, 6-2 at MSG and 6-5 in overtime at the Amalie Arena. The Blueshirts then knotted it up with a 5-1 victory in Game 4 while the Bolts took Game 5, 3-2. With its back against the wall, New York took Game 6 in Tampa Bay 7-3 to force this do-or-die game.
Game 7 can be live streamed for free here.
The Rangers faced elimination on Thursday and scored their most goals in a single playoff game this postseason to stay alive. Derick Brassard notched his first career hat trick and put up five points while Keith Yandle, J.T Miller, James Sheppard and Rick Nash also tallied for New York in the win.
Ryan Callahan found the back of the net for the first time this postseason for the Lightning on the power play in the loss while Nikita Kucherov added two goals.
The Rangers have won six consecutive Game 7s and are 7-0 all-time in the win-or-go-home game at Madison Square Garden, including their Game 7 victory over the Washington Capitals in overtime in Round 2 of this year's postseason.
New York could set an NHL record if it wins a seventh straight Game 7 this evening at MSG. This series, however, has favored the road team as the Rangers haven't won on MSG ice since Game 1 and the visitor has won four of the previous six games - including two of three at the Garden for Tampa Bay.
The Lightning won a Game 7 of their own against the Detroit Red Wings in Round 1 of this year's playoffs.
Henrik Lundqvist has been the go-to man for New York in the blue paint during this string of Game 7 wins. He is 6-1 lifetime in Game 7s with an NHL-record 0.97 goals-against average and .966 save percentage in Game 7s.
His counterpart Ben Bishop, who blanked Detroit 2-0 in that Round 1, Game 7 meeting, feels as though he's up to the task.
"You can say you've been there and you can say you've done that, so maybe you have a little bit of confidence behind you, having one under your belt," Bishop said about the defeat of the Red Wings per NHL.com. "But that's about it. It's a completely different team, a completely different menu."
The Rangers may have some nerves in trying to protect their recent string of good fortune, but that may change once the puck drops.
"There's nothing calm about a Game 7 with a chance to go to the Stanley Cup Final, but we're confident," defenseman Mark Staal told NHL.com. "Obviously, this has a lot more at stake, but we've had a lot of success in these games and we'll take that confidence into our building."
Staal and the Blueshirts 'D' will look to counter Tampa Bay's Triplets Line, which consists of Kucherov, Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat. Johnson leads the team and the NHL with 12 goals and 20 points this postseason while Kucherov (9-10--19) and Palat (6-8--14) have also been productive.
Steven Stamkos had a goal drought to start the playoffs, but he now has seven tallies and 17 points while seven players on the club have at least 10 points.
Brassard has paced New York with nine goals, 16 points and a plus-9 rating this spring while Nash has 14 points off of five markers and nine helpers and Derek Stepan has 12 points by way of lighting the lamp five times and adding seven helpers. Chris Kreider has found the twine a club-high seven times.
Both teams look to advance to the Stanley Cup Final when the puck drops on Eastern Conference Final Game 7 live tonight from Madison Square Garden in New York City as part of the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs.
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