Lightning defeat Rangers to advance to third straight Stanley Cup Final

The Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers will be playing in the Eastern Conference Finals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The best-of-seven series will begin Wednesday, June 1 at Madison Square Garden in midtown Manhattan. All games will be shown on ESPN. The winner will advance to the Stanley Cup Final against the winner of the Western Conference Final between the Edmonton Oilers and Colorado Avalanche.

Tampa Bay is a -175 favorite to win the series on DraftKings Sportsbook. New York is betting at +150.

Here we’re going to be tracking the results from the Oilers-Avalanche series in the Western conference finals of the 2022 NHL playoffs.

Lightning lead 3-2

Game 1: Rangers 6, Lightning 2

Recap — The Lightning were clearly feeling some rust after waiting over a week for this game. Tampa Bay came out flat and was blown out against the Rangers in Game 1 at MSG on Wednesday night. The Rangers big contributions from their “Kid Line” of Filip Chytil, Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko. Chytil scored twice and is up to seven goals this postseason. Andrei Vasilevskiy was let out to dry, allowing six goals on 34 shots. The Lightning could use C Brayden Point back in the lineup. The offense just wasn’t able to keep up with New York and Igor Shesterkin was the better goalie.

Game 2: Rangers 3, Lightning 2

Recap — The Rangers were able to hang on in Game 2 to take a 2-0 series lead in the ECF on Friday. New York has been solid at home over the past few rounds and overall throughout the playoffs. Igor Shesterkin made 29 saves in the Game 2 win. Mika Zibanejad ended up scoring the game-winning goal in the third period. Nick Paul scored a late goal in the third to cut the score to 3-2, but it was too little, too late.

Game 3: Lightning 3, Rangers 2

Recap — Tampa Bay was able to essentially save its season with a Game 3 win on Sunday afternoon 3-2. Ondrej Palat scored in the final minute of the game to give the Bolts a much-needed win, making the series 2-1 Rangers. The Lightning have a shot on Tuesday to tie the series, though they’ll do so without Brayden Point, who remains out with a lower-body injury.

Game 4: Lightning 4, Rangers 1

Recap — The Lightning evened the series with the Rangers 2-2 with a big win in Game 4 on Tuesday night. Tampa Bay heads back to New York with momentum. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 34 saves and Ondrej Palat came up big again with three points.

Game 5: Lightning 3, Rangers 1

Recap — The score doesn’t tell the whole story in this one. We entered the third period tied 1-1 before Mikhail Sergachev scored his second of the game at 18:10 to give the Bolts a 2-1 lead. Brandon Hagel scored an empty-net goal and the defending champs are one win away from the Cup.

Game 6: Lightning 2, Rangers 1

Recap — The Bolts are back in the Cup! Tampa Bay outlasted the Rangers with a 2-1 win in Game 6 on Saturday night to advance to the Cup to face the Avalanche. The Lightning to both goals from captain Steven Stamkos, who scored 21 seconds after the Rangers tied the game 1-1 late in the third period.