Tonight at 7 p.m. ET, the Tampa Bay Lightning (12-4-2, 26 points) and New York Rangers (7-6-4, 18 points) face-off for the first of three meetings this season live from Madison Square Garden. 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 enters play in second place in the Atlantic Division and in search of its second straight win while New York sits in third in the Metropolitan Division and has lost two consecutive matches and four of five overall.
A few Lightning players return to a familiar place as forward Brian Boyle and defenseman Anton Stralman played for New York last season as it went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final while former Rangers captain Ryan Callahan returns to MSG for the first time since being traded for Martin St. Louis last spring.
Callahan, who was trying to work out an extension with the Rangers at the time of his trade, said he knew being dealt was a possibility last season.
"There were a lot of things said through the media in the previous two months so I knew it was a possibility," Callahan, who has six goals and 13 points thus far, told NHL.com. "We were trying to work out a deal and it didn't happen so they decided to move on."
Tampa Bay is coming off of a 5-2 victory over the New York Islanders -- a familiar foe of Callahan's from his time with the Blueshirts -- which saw Callahan score a goal in the triumph.
Captain Steven Stamkos (11 goals, eight assists) and Tyler Johnson (six tallies, 13 helpers) each lead the Lightning with 19 points thus far this season. Stralman is tied for third in the league with a plus-13 plus-minus rating.
The Rangers are coming off of a bizarre 3-2 shootout loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins where it looked like Dan Boyle gave his team a win with a goal, but it was eventually disallowed when video review showed he banked it in after originally hitting the post. New York then lost the game when the shootout picked up for Round 4.
Now, New York looks to avoid three straight losses with a tough Tampa Bay team coming in tonight.
"Tampa is playing real well in our conference," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said, according to NHL.com. "They're definitely one of the teams that's moving up. They've got some great youth with a lot of talent and skill. It will be a tough opponent for us."
Rangers forward Rick Nash is tied for the league lead with 12 goals and paces the team with 19 points while Derick Brassard has six markers and eight helpers for 14 points and St. Louis ranks third with 13 points by way of lighting the lamp six times and adding seven assists.
In net, New York is set to turn to Henrik Lundqvist, who is 7-4-3 with a 2.51 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage while he also is tied for the league lead with three shutouts.
Tampa Bay, meanwhile, is slated to play Ben Bishop in the crease and he is 10-2-2 with a 2.34 GAA and a .918 save percentage. Bishop's 10 wins rank him tied for second in the NHL.
The Lightning look to continue their torrid start to the season while the Rangers will try to snap a two-game skid when the puck drops tonight at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
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