Rangers vs Lightning

For additional insight into the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning during the Eastern Conference Final series, NHL.com has enlisted the help of Dave Farrish to break down the action. Farrish will be checking in throughout the series.

Farrish was an assistant coach for the Anaheim Ducks and Toronto Maple Leafs from 2005-14. He won the Stanley Cup with the Ducks in 2007. He also coached 1,027 games in the minor leagues, including the American Hockey League. In addition, Farrish, a former defenseman, played 430 games over seven seasons in the NHL.

It wasn't just how the New York Rangers won Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final on Friday, it was who contributed in their 5-1 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning that has Dave Farrish thinking momentum in the series has potentially taken a significant turn.

The Rangers' big guns, their best player and two of their top scorers, were the stars.

Henrik Lundqvist made 38 saves in a vintage performance. Rick Nash played strong, owned the middle of the ice and scored two goals, doubling his production in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in one night. Martin St. Louis scored his first goal of the postseason with a one-timer on the power play that gave New York a 4-1 lead in the third period.

"The players we were talking about finally broke out," Farrish said. "I think it could make a huge difference."

TAMPA -- For two games, the Tampa Bay Lightning had the New York Rangers manically spinning their heads, gasping for their breath and searching for answers to questions they had never faced before.

It happened in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final. It happened again in Game 3. The Rangers were simply unable to stop the Lightning's top players from being their best players. It was somewhat shocking coming from a team as structured, sound, smart and skilled as the Rangers, who thrived all season on shoving their speed game right down the throats of the opposition.

So they entered Game 4 on Friday at Amalie Arena with a crystal clear understanding that without a big response from the best they've got they would be in a hole too deep to dig out from. What happened next changed the storyline in this unpredictable series that is now a best of three.

TAMPA -- Whether it was untimely defensive breakdowns or an unlikely bounce off of the leg of a teammate, Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Ben Bishop will need to put a 5-1 loss to the New York Rangers in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final behind him quickly.

The best-of-7 series is now tied 2-2 with Game 5 at Madison Square Garden on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports).

Bishop gave up five goals for the second consecutive game, but this time the Lightning offense couldn't bail him out. The Rangers scored two power-play goals during a four-goal barrage in a 16-minute span and are 6-for-15 in the series.

"You look at the last couple of games and the penalty kill has to be better, and that starts with me," Bishop said. "Six [power-play] goals in three games is just unacceptable. You look at some of the other goals and there's a couple things you might do different and a couple of unlucky breaks."

TAMPA -- When New York Rangers forward Martin St. Louis scored his first goal of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs on Friday, he couldn't hide his emotions.

It took him 16 games, but St. Louis one-timed Derick Brassard's feed past Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Ben Bishop for a power-play goal 5:08 into the third period of the Rangers' 5-1 victory in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final at Amalie Arena.

Nearly seven weeks had passed since St. Louis scored a goal. His attitude and approach remained positive throughout, but he admitted after the win that the process was difficult to endure.

TAMPA -- The Tampa Bay Lightning feel if they keep their foot on the pedal Friday in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports), they'll be able to push themselves to within one win of the Stanley Cup Final.

The Lightning lead the New York Rangers 2-1 in the best-of-7 series.

The Rangers, meanwhile, feel if they get can back into their structured game and figure out a way to slow the Lightning, they'll go home for Game 5 with the series tied 2-2 and their home-ice advantage back intact.

Tampa Bay won the last two games by scoring six goals in each of them.

Here are three keys for each team:

TAMPA -- The New York Rangers have thrived all season on being one of, if not the fastest team in the National Hockey League. After being opened up and exposed by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the past two games of the Eastern Conference Final, they realize speed won't get them to the Stanley Cup Final.

"We don't want to play this way, a track-meet game, back and forth," defenseman Dan Girardi said after the Rangers lost 6-5 in overtime in Game 3 on Monday. "They're fast, we're fast, but I think we want to make it a little more tight checking next game."

Girardi said he doesn't think the Rangers need to necessarily slow themselves down to win Game 4 on Friday at Amalie Arena (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports), but they need to be better in their structure and more precise in their decision making if they want to even the best-of-7 series at 2-2.

For additional insight into the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning during the Eastern Conference Final series, NHL.com has enlisted the help of Dave Farrish to break down the action. Farrish will be checking in throughout the series.

Farrish was an assistant coach for the Anaheim Ducks and Toronto Maple Leafs from 2005-14. He won the Stanley Cup with the Ducks in 2007. He also coached 1,027 games in the minor leagues, including the American Hockey League. In addition, Farrish, a former defenseman, played 430 games over seven seasons in the NHL.

The New York Rangers know they have to get back to playing their structured, tight-checking game in order to even their series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Dave Farrish isn't quite sure if they'll be able to do it after watching the Lightning pick them apart in the past two games of the Eastern Conference Final.

"I don't know if they can," Farrish said. "I don't know if Tampa is just too fast for them to be able to do that. I think they're caught between gears of what they're trying to accomplish. They've been confronted with a different animal and they're not sure of the best way to handle it."

TAMPA -- If the right post at TD Garden in Boston never got in his way, never was the guilty party in why Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos broke his right leg early last season, he of course would be fine with that. After all, nobody wants to feel that kind of pain.

But if it never happened, Stamkos said he wouldn't have the same level of appreciation he has now for the journey on which he and his Lightning teammates have embarked.

The Lightning are two wins from reaching the Stanley Cup Final. They lead the New York Rangers 2-1 in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference Final, with Game 4 set for Friday at Amalie Arena (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports).

As assistant pastor at Our Savior Lutheran Church and School in St. Petersburg and Largo, Fla., Moore has taken it to a new spiritual level during these Stanley Cup Playoffs with headlines on the sign in front of the Largo church that combine theology and hockey.

"I've been a big Lightning fan for a long time so I was thinking how much fun it would be to create signs after a win each game during the playoffs," Moore said. "I know we are a church. But at the same time, church is a community organization. [The Lightning] are something the community is rallying around right now so that was the catalyst."

TAMPA -- The three players on the Tampa Bay Lightning's delightfully skilled and fantastically young and energetic second line are known as "The Triplets." The nickname works because it's quick, to the point, memorable and easy to digest. It's all good except for one great problem to have:

Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov are nothing alike. But in an odd way that's what fuels their chemistry, what makes them so good and so awesome to watch. They've been that way all season and, most impressively and importantly, throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Lightning lead the best-of-7 series 2-1 and host Game 4 on Friday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports).