Rangers at Lightning
The New York Rangers have been taken out of their game and, as a result, are in danger of falling behind 3-1 for the second consecutive postseason series. The visiting Rangers will attempt to slow down the high-flying Tampa Bay Lightning and square the series when the teams clash in Friday's Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final.
The Lightning have roared back from a series-opening loss by pumping in 12 goals in back-to-back wins, taking Game 3 on Nikita Kucherov's tally in overtime. "I think we've got a pretty quick team, and they have a quick team," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "... I don't know how it looks on TV, but when you're standing there, it is, pardon the pun, it is lightning fast." A beleaguered Henrik Lundqvist, the winningest goaltender in franchise history, has surrendered at least six goals on six occasions this season - and the Lightning have victimized him on the last four occasions. “Sometimes as a team, we can be a little bit better, but also I have to be better,” Lundqvist said. “We’re not going to win if I give up six goals.”
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, CBC, TVA
ABOUT THE RANGERS: New York did a lot of good things in Game 3 - bolting to a 2-0 lead, erasing a two-goal deficit and converting twice on the power play - but the Presidents' Trophy winner needs to contain an offense that produced an NHL-best 262 goals in the regular season. “We don’t want to play this way, a track-meet game, back and forth,” defenseman Dan Girardi said. “They’re fast, we’re fast, but I think we want to make it a little more tight-checking.” Jesper Fast, elevated to the No. 2 line alongside Derek Stepan and Chris Kreider, provided a spark with a pair of goals Wednesday - the first multi-goal performance by a New York rookie since since Brandon Dubinsky in the 2008 Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING: Captain Steven Stamkos has emerged from his slump with four goals in five games and linemate Alex Killorn has tallied three times in the last two contests, but the biggest headache for the Rangers remains the "Triplets." The line of Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Kucherov has been unstoppable, combining for 25 of Tampa Bay's 47 postseason goals, with seven tallies and seven assists coming in the last two games alone. "They've impressed me for a long time, and now they're impressing the world," Cooper said of the unit that includes an undrafted free agent in Johnson (a league-best 12 goals in the postseason) and a seventh-round draft pick in Palat (four goals in his last four games).
OVERTIME
1. Lightning G Ben Bishop is 10-1-0 lifetime against New York.
2. The Rangers have scored two power-play goals in consecutive playoff games for the first time since the 1996 Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
3. Tampa Bay D Matt Carle is day-to-day after exiting Game 3 with an undisclosed injury.