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The Tampa Bay Lightning, in true defending champion fashion, evened the Eastern Conference Final 2-2 with the New York Rangers. The Bolts defeated New York for two straight wins, 3-2 in Game 3 and 4-1 in Game 4 on Tuesday. Tampa Bay has retaken momentum and now it’s a 3-game set to decide who will face the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Final.
Let’s look back at Game 4. The Rangers lost Filip Chytil, which was big. He only skated 7:18 before leaving due to injury. The Lightning scoring first was also big. Tampa Bay got the crowd into it early and the rest of the game was a breeze. Andrei Vasilevskiy had his best game of the series with 34 saves on 35 shots. That doesn’t bode well for the Rangers in Game 5.
What will bode well is the continued absence of C Brayden Point for Tampa Bay. His status is up in the air for Game 5 on Thursday night. With this being a swing game that could help close out the series, we could see Point play in some sort of Kirk Gibson capacity. Even if Point is out, it feels like Vasilevskiy is about to peak.
Lightning vs. Rangers in Game 5
Date: Thursday, June 9
Start time: 8 p.m. ET
TV channel: ESPN, ESPN+
Live stream: WatchESPN, ESPN app
If you aren’t around a TV to check out this NHL matchup, you can stream the game via WatchESPN or the ESPN app. Keep in mind, however, that you’ll either need a cable-login with access to watch ESPN or a subscription to ESPN+. If you don’t have a cable login to access ESPN for a live stream, you can sign up for a monthly subscription to ESPN+ for $6.99 or pay $69.99 for a full year of access.