Tampa Bay Lightning face a tough challenge against New York Rangers – NHL Preview
Tampa Bay Lightning’s faded playoff hopes are at stake as New York Rangers travel to play against them in a National Hockey League (NHL) game on Friday, March 2, 2012, at Tampa Bay Times Forum, Tampa, Florida.
Rangers, being NHL Eastern Conference leaders, pose a serious threat to the Lightning who are still striving to reach the safe zone.
Let’s have a look at both the teams.
Rangers
Presently on a three-game winning streak, the Eastern Conference leaders have 88 points after 62 games.
Their recent victories came against Buffalo Sabres (3-2 in overtime), New Jersey Devils (2-0) and Carolina Hurricanes (3-2).
Rangers’ offence, however, is slightly struggling and it needs to find its rhythm to ensure dominance in the playoffs.
Against Hurricanes, they failed to score any goal in the first period.
Hurricanes got the lead in the second period and then Rangers began accelerating.
They scored twice in the second period and both teams scored a goal each in the final period as Rangers won the game by a one-goal margin.
Goaltender, Martin Biron, made 21 saves to play his role in the victory. Winger, Marian Gaborik, said after the game:
"We have a very balanced team. Everybody can play. We're rolling all four lines and everybody did their job. It was a team effort with Marty making a lot of great saves."
Lightning
They are presently on a two-game winning streak and have only lost two games out of the last seven.
The recent victories came against New Jersey Devils (4-3) and Montreal Canadiens (2-1).
In the last seven games, Lightning have scored 21 goals while conceding 24. This goes to highlight their feebleness in terms of defence.
If the Lightning manage to control this flaw, they can certainly give a tough time to Rangers, but if they fail to do so they stand no chance of winning the game.
After getting the win against Montreal, Lightning’s coach, Guy Boucher, said:
"We needed to do the best that we possibly could. And I think we got the best out of our guys tonight."
Lightning are ranked at 12th spot in the Eastern Conference with 64 points after 63 games and are six points behind the eighth ranked Winnipeg Jets.
Predictions
Rangers have an edge over Lightning
The sum of goals scored by both the teams might stay under six.
If Lightning win, the winning margin will be less than two goals.
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