Rangers vs Lightning

For additional insight into the Eastern Conference Final, NHL.com has enlisted the help of Chris Dennis to break down the Tampa Bay Lightning. Dennis will be checking in throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Dennis spent 10 seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, including the past two as an assistant coach under Randy Carlyle and Peter Horachek. Prior to that he was the Maple Leafs' video coach for eight seasons.

The Tampa Bay Lightning's lack of experience in high-pressure situations, like Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final against the New York Rangers, was a major topic of discussion entering Friday, especially compared to the Rangers' veteran experience.

But to Chris Dennis, the Lightning had no reason to be intimidated by the Rangers or the aura of Madison Square Garden.

The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the New York Rangers 2-0 Friday in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final to advance to Stanley Cup Final for the second time. The Lightning defeated the Calgary Flames in seven games to win the Stanley Cup in 2004.

The conference final was a back-and-forth series, with the road team winning the final four games. The Lightning and Rangers each scored 21 goals in the series, and Game 3, which the Lightning won 6-5 in overtime, will go down as one of the wildest games of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

But with the series on the line goalie Ben Bishop proved to be up for the challenge, making 22 saves to win the series with his third shutout of the playoffs.

Here are five reasons the Lightning advanced:

NEW YORK -- The once-promising and ultimately still successful season for the New York Rangers ended Friday at Madison Square Garden because they couldn't score.

Goals were hard to come by during most of the Rangers' run in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs. There were the three games against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Final when they combined for 17 goals at Amalie Arena, but the Rangers scored 28 goals in their other 16 games, including none in Games 5 and 7 at home in the conference final against the Lightning.

"We could probably look back at it and say we chased too many series and we just ran out of juice," Rangers center Derek Stepan said Friday after the 2-0 loss that ended their season.

Here are five reasons the Rangers were eliminated:

NEW YORK -- Tampa Bay Lightning forwards Brian Boyle and Ryan Callahan and defenseman Anton Stralman played for the New York Rangers last season. Boyle and Stralman made it to the Stanley Cup Final against the Los Angeles Kings, losing in five games.

On Friday, Boyle, Callahan and Stralman eliminated their former team from the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 2-0 win in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final at Madison Square Garden.

The Lightning will play in their second Stanley Cup Final, against the Anaheim Ducks or Chicago Blackhawks. Tampa Bay defeated the Calgary Flames in seven games in 2004.

"Obviously it feels awesome, being able to go to the Stanley Cup Finals," said Callahan, who was Rangers captain from 2011 until he was traded to the Lightning in 2014 for Lightning captain Martin St. Louis. "The effort we put forth tonight, the way we played, it's an exciting feeling, my first trip there."

NEW YORK -- Watching the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Final was like watching the little brother in a reality TV series grow bigger by the game before hitting the growth spurt that sent him towering over big brother like Victor Hedman over Tyler Johnson.

The Lightning are going to the Stanley Cup Final because in the end they discovered the best way to beat big brother is to ignore his reputation, age, strength and experience, and simply just stuff your best game down his throat with confidence and bravado befitting a champion finding his way.

That's what the Lightning did Friday to win 2-0 in Game 7 at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers. They played as close to a perfect road hockey game as possible.

"You shine the light bright on our guys, and they'll just put on sunglasses and walk right through it," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "It's unreal how they respond."

NEW YORK -- All the talk going into Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final was about Henrik Lundqvist, his dazzling numbers and the New York Rangers' perfect record in Game 7 at Madison Square Garden.

But it was Ben Bishop of the Tampa Bay Lightning who ended up with a 2-0 win Friday that sent the Lightning to the Stanley Cup Final, where they will face the Chicago Blackhawks or Anaheim Ducks in Game 1 on Wednesday.

Bishop made 22 saves for his second shutout of the series; he won Game 5 here Sunday (also 2-0). Bishop is 2-0 in Game 7 in his first Stanley Cup Playoffs, and has allowed two goals on 77 shots in three elimination games.

"He's probably our MVP," Lightning forward Brian Boyle said. "He's our backbone back there. He's won us games. He's gotten us to advance. … [Bishop] stood in there and has been phenomenal."

NEW YORK -- New York Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh was playing through a broken foot that limited the defenseman to 17:33 of ice time in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday.

Coach Alain Vigneault confirmed the injury after New York's season-ending 2-0 loss.

Asked how long McDonagh's foot has been broken, Vigneault said, "A couple of games."

McDonagh did not practice Thursday, but the Rangers said the absence was a maintenance day.

McDonagh, who declined to talk about his injury after Game 7, took the warm-up and started the game on the bench. He went back to the dressing room and didn't play his first shift until 12:41 of the first period. He played two more shifts before intermission then took a regular shift through the final two periods.

NEW YORK -- There was one last chant of "Hen-rik!" not the loud, insistent version that followed saves like the one he made on Tampa Bay Lightning forward Tyler Johnson in the second period, but more like a thank you from the Madison Square Garden crowd for a playoff of brilliant goaltending.

There was one more stick wave in recognition, one last goodbye before another Stanley Cup-free summer. Then it was time for Henrik Lundqvist to bid farewell to his six-game winning streak in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and get ready for an offseason that's starting too soon.

Lundqvist and the New York Rangers came up one game short of a return trip to the Stanley Cup Final on Friday when the Lightning scored twice in the third period for a 2-0 victory in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final."

NEW YORK -- While he sees it as a great event and agrees that there is nothing quite like it in sports, New York Rangers coach Alain Vigneault believes the best way to approach Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final on Friday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports) is to not overdramatize it or give it any preferential treatment.

"This is just one of many games," Vigneault said.

Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper respectfully disagrees.

"I don't think it's just another game," Cooper said. "This is Game 7. You win this game and you're going to go play for the Stanley Cup. So I'm not going to sit here and hide this from our guys saying, 'Oh, fellas, this is one of 103 or 104 or whatever we're playing.'

"I don't want to hide behind the clichés of it's just another game. This is an unreal game to be a part of."

It would be an unreal feeling if they can win it. Vigneault, for as tempered as he is with his emotions, can't deny that.

Here are the keys to advancing to the Stanley Cup Final for each team:

NEW YORK -- Steven Stamkos and the Tampa Bay Lightning were a Game 7 win from reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2011, an opportunity most players never get in their careers.

Stamkos will get his second opportunity to advance to the Cup Final with a Game 7 win when the Lightning and New York Rangers play the decisive game of the 2015 Eastern Conference Final on Friday at Madison Square Garden (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports).

The Lightning lost to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the 2011 Eastern Conference Final.

"For us, you just never know where hockey is going to take you next," Stamkos said Thursday after the Lightning arrived in Manhattan. "[Brenden Morrow] has been to the Finals before, Brian [Boyle] has been to the Final before. When I was one game away, you think you're going to be right back there next year.