NEW YORK — The Tampa Bay Lightning suffered a heavy defeat against the New York Rangers as they lost 6-2 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.
The Bolts are now down by one in the series and will hope to level the score in Game 2 Friday night.
The Rangers scored in each period with half of their goals coming in the second.
The Lightning leveled the score twice after they were down 1-0 and then 2-1. Steven Stamkos and Ondrej Palat scored the goals in the second period to give the away side a chance of claiming a win.
However, that was not the case as the Bolts conceded their second-most goals in a playoff game this season.
The game did not end in a manner in which Tampa Bay would have wished as there was an altercation involving a few players on each team.
Despite the loss in Game 1, the Lightning are still on the hunt for their third consecutive Stanley Cup.
Doing so would make the Bolts only the fourth team to reach that accomplishment, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs (1947-49), the Montreal Canadiens (1956-60, 1976-79) and the New York Islands (1982-1982).
Puck drop for Game 2 against New York is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Friday, June 3 at Madison Square Garden.
10 Tampa Bay will keep you up to date with the latest score during the game.
Live Blog
3rd Period
10:50 p.m.
End of the third period. Bolts lose 6-2.
10:20 p.m.
Rangers score to extend their lead 6-2.
10:08 p.m.
New York gets their fifth goal of the game. Bolts down 5-2.
10:08 p.m.
The third period is underway.
2nd Period
9:49 p.m.
The second period concludes. Bolts down 4-2.
9:40 p.m.
The Rangers score to extend their lead by 4-1.
9:31 p.m.
New York quickly scores another goal to restore their lead. Bolts down 3-2.
9:29 p.m.
Ondrej Palat gets the Bolts back on level terms to make the game 2-2. Assisted by Mikhail Sergachev and Steven Stamkos.
9:24 p.m.
The Rangers get their second goal of the night to get a 2-1 over the Bolts.
9:13 p.m.
The second period is underway!
1st Period
8:55 p.m.
The first period comes to an end as the Lightning and Rangers remain tied 1-1.
8:30 p.m.
Steven Stamkos scores to make the score 1-all! Assisted by Anthony Cirelli and Jan Rutta.
8:18 p.m.
New York gets an early 1-0 lead as they score the first goal of the game.
8:16 p.m.
The puck is dropped and we are underway for the Eastern Conference Final.
Pregame
8:01 p.m.
Starters for tonight's game!
7:05 p.m.
Bolts fans make their way to Amalie Arena for the watch party as Tampa Bay takes on the New York Rangers.
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Original story: Brandon Hagel was one of the five players limping to the locker room during Game 2's win against the Panthers.
The Tampa Bay Lightning will play a postseason game Wednesday — finally.
The Bolts begin their Eastern Conference Final at 8 p.m. against the New York Rangers, a team that just finished its second 7-game series on Monday.
It's going to be interesting to see what kind of tone is set once the puck drops. On one hand, the Rangers have been playing every other day for a month. On the other hand, the Lightning just had eight days off.
It's the classic rest versus rust debate, but the Bolts are not complaining about the time off.
"If there was any year we could have used this break, this was the year," head coach Jon Cooper said.
Brandon Hagel stepped onto the ice briefly Tuesday for practice before shuffling back into the locker room. All indications are he will play in Game 1, but we truly won't know until a little before 8 p.m. As for Brayden Point, there is no update on his status, but he did skate during Wednesday afternoon's optional practice.
"The longer we play, the better chance he has of joining us," forward Alex Killorn said. "I don't know if that's the focus, but we understand that that's a possibility. So for sure, we think about that."
Killorn actually scored the game-winning goal against the Rangers in Game 7 of 2015 against New York, the only other time these two franchises met in the playoffs. That matchup was also in the Eastern Conference Final, but Cooper is not drawing any similarities from that matchup to the one we'll see this time around.
"It was eight years ago. Same building, same teams," Killorn said. "Our core is quite a bit the same. Their team has changed quite a bit."
In fact, Bolts assistant captain Ryan McDonagh played for the Rangers in that series. So he will now get to experience life on the other side. He's not the only familiar face in this matchup, though.
Two-time Stanley Cup champion Barclay Goodrow will square off against his former squad in hopes of following the Pat Maroon lifestyle of three straight championships with two different teams.
"I think we want to be the best, and in order to be the best, you got to go through the best," Goodrow said.
Goodrow has played with Andrei Vasilevskiy and now suits up with Igor Shesterkin, someone who will almost certainly win the Vezina Trophy award this year for best goaltender in the league. Goodrow was asked during a press conference Tuesday, "Who is better?" After dancing around the question initially, the reporter finally got a response from him.
"I'll take Shesty," Goodrow answered.
If Vasilevskiy needed some fuel for the fight in this series, that might help him in Game 1. Vasy has not given up more than one goal in his last five games and has saved 181 of his last 185 shots.
Even Shesterkin knows the tall task ahead.
“He is the best goalie in the world right now," Goodrow said.
The Bolts will need to limit penalties in this series. New York had one of the best power plays in the league and we all saw what happened in Toronto when the Lightning got a bit sloppy with a fortuitous team.
Also, the two-time champions have experience on their side. While the Rangers are not completely new to the playoffs, most of their roster is going through this gauntlet for the first time.
Finally, the Lightning made a living on blocking shots against the Panthers. It was a painful experience, but it was ultimately the reason why the team pulled off the sweep against the league's best team. If they do that again, they'll be just fine...at least in the win column.
One thing is clear. The Lightning have waited long enough.
“We’re ready. We’re ready to get going," Corey Perry said.