Tonight at 8 p.m. ET, the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning face-off for Game 2 of their Eastern Conference Final best-of-seven series live from Madison Square Garden in New York City as part of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Tampa Bay looks to even things up at one game apiece while New York hopes to take a commanding 2-0 series lead before the set shifts to Florida for the first time.
The Rangers picked up a 2-1 victory in Game 1 on Saturday afternoon at MSG in a game that marked their ninth 2-1 game in 13 postseason games and their 15th straight playoff game to be decided by one goal.
This game can be live streamed for free by clicking here.
Rangers forward Derek Stepan picked up right where he left off in Game 7 of Round 2 as he scored the opening tally of the series with just over 12 seconds remaining in the opening period in Game 1 while Ondrej Palat netted the equalizer for the Lightning on the power play early on in the third frame.
Dominic Moore then found the twine after the puck ricocheted off his shin and in for the game-winning goal at 17:35 of the third period to stake New York to a 1-0 series lead.
The Lightning are hoping for a better effort in Game 2 after being unhappy with their performance in the opening tilt.
"The Rangers played extremely well, but we just kept stubbing our toe," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said per NHL.com. "We were just handing them tickets to the movie, wheeling the turnstile and watching them go by. We can't be giving pucks away. We can't be turning them over. We can't not make them go the 200 feet. We've been a puck possession team all year. I'm not sitting here and saying that just replicates and goes into the playoffs, but we've got to be much better than we were. I'm quite convinced we will."
The Rangers are used to playing in tight games, but they failed to take a 2-0 series lead on home-ice in the first two rounds against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals and they'll look to buck the trend.
"We've got to trust our structure," Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh told NHL.com. "When we have close support, even if we get hemmed in our zone or they get an opportunity to put a lick on our guy before we get eyes up or make a breakout pass, if there is a little loose puck there hopefully our close support will be able to jump on that before their guy can get it. We have to trust everybody out there, trust our structure."
Derick Brassard and Chris Kreider are tied for the New York lead with five goals apiece this postseason while Brassard and Stepan (four tallies, five helpers) each have a team-best nine points. Rick Nash (two goals) and Martin St. Louis (no markers, four helpers) will look to find their scoring touch for the Rangers.
Tyler Johnson has paced Tampa Bay this spring with 13 points and ranks first in the NHL with eight postseason goals. Nikita Kucherov has lit the lamp six times and added five helpers for 11 points to rank second on the Lightning and Steven Stamkos has found the back of the net three times and added seven assists for 10 points.
In between the pipes, Tampa Bay turns to Ben Bishop and he is 8-6 with a 1.82 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage thus far this postseason.
New York counters with Henrik Lundqvist in the blue paint and he is 9-4 with a 1.56 GAA and a .945 save percentage in these playoffs.
The Lightning look to even things up while the Rangers hope to take a 2-0 series lead when the puck drops on Game 2 live tonight from Madison Square Garden in New York City as part of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
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