The New York Rangers come through the series against the Carolina Hurricanes and now will try to do another miracle in the series against the defending champion. The Rangers and the Lightning are opening the Eastern Conference Finals series tonight at the Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Match Details
- New York Rangers vs Tampa Bay Lightning
- NHL – Eastern Conference Finals, Game 1
- Date – 1/6/2022
- Starting time – 7 PM ET
- Venue: Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
New York Rangers Stats & Form
The New York Rangers are having a great season so far coming back in both of the previous Playoff series and winning them in the decisive Game 7.
They were 3-1 down against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round before winning three straight games and then won back-to-back games including a Game 7 on the road to close out the series against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Rangers will have a tough time against the defending NHL champion but they are still in play for their first Stanley Cup since 1994 and just second in the last 82 years.
The Rangers have won 26 of the last 36 games when their opponent scores 2 goals or less in their previous game and 9 of the last 13 games after scoring 5 goals or more in their previous game.
New York Rangers News
Samuel Blais will not play for the Rangers tonight.
Tampa Bay Lightning Stats & Form
The Tampa Bay Lightning came into the Playoffs hoping to get a chance to win their third straight Stanley Cup but not many gave them any chance to actually do that.
Now, a few weeks later, the Lightning are favorites in the Eastern Conference Finals against a team they defeated in the same stage of the Playoffs back in 2015.
The Lightning are coming off a sweep against the best team in the regular season and the local rival, Florida Panthers.
Tampa Bay has won the 5 of the last 6 games when their opponent scores 5 goals or more in their previous game and 22 of the last 30 Playoff games as favorites.
Tampa Bay Lightning News
Brent Seabrook will not play for Tampa Bay tonight while Brandon Point is questionable.
New York Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Head-to-Head Stats
The Tampa Bay Lightning has won 6 of the last 10 games against New York but the Rangers have won the last three.
Six of the last ten games between these two have ended over 5.5 goals.
New York Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Betting Odds
The Tampa Bay Lightning are slight favorites coming into this game with 120 odds to win while the Rangers are at 175 and 324 odds are set for a draw.
The total goals margin is set at 5.5 with -106 for over and -116 for under.
Betting Tip
The Tampa Bay Lighting are only one series away from their third straight Stanley Cup Final. It seems like they couldn’t ask for e better opponent but the Rangers, even though no one predicted them going this far, defeated the Lightning 3 times during the regular season and have the home ice advantage in the series. Anyway, the Lightning are much more experienced team who has been regular in the Playoffs and another factor that may be crucial in the opening game of the series is the fact that the Lightning had 9 days off before this game while the Rangers have played every other day since the beginning of the Playoffs.
The Lightning are in general the better team which the showed by sweeping the team with the best regular season record the Florida Panthers. Given the fact that the Rangers are having the home ice advantage, the Lightning will have to win on the road and that will happen already in the opening game of the series.
