Live conversation as Rangers look to take a two game lead
The New York Rangers are going to try to do something that no NHL team has done since 2019. They are trying to put the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 2-0 hole in a playoff series. In 2019, the Lightning dropped the first two game of their First Round series versus the Columbus Blue Jackets and went on to lose the series in four.
The difference is that the Lightning lost the first two games at home while they are the road team this year. Since that sweep by Columbus, Tampa has won 17 straight times after a loss, a remarkable streak that is prime to be halted.
That streak means that Tampa will not go down easy.
Poking the bear
We all heard the Garden crowd taunting Andrei Vasilevskiy with the “Igor’s better” chant and giving him the mock cheer when stopped an easy shot. While it was funny, it’s always a risk to humiliate a superstar and make no mistake about it, Vasilevskiy is a superstar. As one of the best clutch goaltenders in Stanley Cup history, no one will be surprised if he plays lights out in a bounceback game. Of course, all Ranger fans know that doesn’t mean that Igor isn’t better.
Projected starting lineups
NEW YORK RANGERS
20 Kreider – 93 Zibanejad – 77 Vatrano
10 Panarin – 16 Strome – 18 Copp
13 Lafreniere -72 Chytil – 24 Kakko
64 Motte – 21 Goodow – 75 Reaves
55 Lindgren – 23 Fox
79 Miller – 8 Trouba
61 Braun – 54 Schneider
31 Shesterkin
40 Georgiev
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
91 Steven Stamkos – 71 Anthony Cirelli – 86 Nikita Kucherov
18 Ondrej Palat – 20 Nicholas Paul – 17 Alex Killorn
38 Brandon Hagel -79 Ross Colton – 10 Corey Perry
14 Pat Maroon – 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare
77 Victor Hedman – 81 Erik Cernak
27 Ryan McDonagh – 24 Zach Bogosian
98 Mikhail Sergachev – 52 Cal Foote
44 Jan Rutta
88 Andrei Vasilevskiy
1 Brian Elliott
How to watch and the live conversation
Game time is 8pm and again, it will be televised on ESPN with the livestream on ESPN+. MSG Network will provide pre and post game coverage.
Blue Line Station’s live conversation is active now and join your fellow Blueshirts faithful as we watch and talk about the game. You can join in the comments section below. We have had some issues with the auto-refresh feature and the workround is to sort the messages by oldest, then back to newest in order to see the latest comments.