Rangers vs Lightning

GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- The New York Rangers are a close-knit team with a core that has seen a lot and won a lot when the stakes have been high. They're together, all on the same page. You get the picture.

The point is that the Rangers are so harmonized that even when they don't all agree with a concept they return to the same message. That much is true heading into Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Madison Square Garden on Friday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports).

Even though some players disagree with how their experience in these winner-take-all situations comes into play, if it gives them a psychological edge on the Lightning, there's no doubt the Rangers at large believe they have an advantage going into Game 7 because they know better than Tampa Bay how to prepare for, play in, and win Game 7s.

No team in recent history has been better in Game 7 or potential elimination games than the Rangers.

"There's a lot of experience in this dressing room and we have a lot of confidence," center Derick Brassard said.

GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- New York Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh did not practice Thursday in advance of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Madison Square Garden on Friday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports).

Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said he had no concern about McDonagh's health.

McDonagh has not missed a game in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs; he has three goals, nine points and a plus-3 rating in 18 games, and leads the Rangers with 23:50 of ice time per game.

He did not participate in the morning skate prior to Game 6 at Amalie Arena on Tuesday but played 34 shifts totaling 21:57 in the Rangers' 7-3 win.

TAMPA -- The New York Rangers used to call Anton Stralman "Mr. Casual" because nothing seemed to excite him, not even the biggest games, including five Game 7s he played with them from 2012-14.

The Rangers won all those Game 7s. Now they're hoping Stralman's unwavering poise and uncanny ability to play a fast game in slow motion doesn't catch on with the rest of his Tampa Bay Lightning teammates in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final on Friday at Madison Square Garden (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports).

Stralman has been a leader by example for the Lightning this season, and they'll need to take their cues from him in a hostile road environment if they want to reach the 2015 Stanley Cup Final.

"When the pressure is at its highest and somebody walks out of there as calm as can be, that's Anton Stralman," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Our team, you just hear the guys on the bench praise him, the things he's done for us. Having that confidence that we get to throw him over the boards every second shift, it's just a luxury for us."

The Tampa Bay Lightning will have a second chance to finish off the New York Rangers and advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2004 when they play Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final on Friday at Madison Square Garden (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports).

The Rangers avoided elimination with a 7-3 win in Game 6 in Tampa on Tuesday. The best-of-7 series is tied 3-3.

Tampa Bay has answered the challenge when faced with adversity throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Lightning rallied for a 3-2 win in Game 4 of the first round at the Detroit Red Wings to avoid going down 3-1 in that best-of-7 series. And facing elimination Tampa Bay put together a strong performance in a 5-2 win in Detroit in Game 6 before closing the series with a 2-0 win in Game 7 at home.

Going through and winning that type of a series is an experience that Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman hopes will help the Lightning on Friday.

NEW YORK -- The New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning will decide the Eastern Conference Final in Game 7 Friday night at Madison Square Garden (8 p.m., ET, NBCSN, CBC, TVA). The winner will advance to the Stanley Cup Final and face the winner of the Western Conference Final between the Anaheim Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks.

The Rangers and Lightning both will make their second appearance in a Game 7 this postseason. New York eliminated the Washington Capitals in the Second Round with a 2-1 overtime victory at Madison Square Garden on May 13, while the Lightning blanked the Detroit Red Wings 2-0 at Amalie Arena to complete the First Round on April 29.

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.

After feeling like the New York Rangers had very little will to win in Game 5 on Sunday, Dave Farrish watched the same team come out in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final on Tuesday determined to extend its season.

The Rangers roared to a 7-3 victory at Amalie Arena to tie the best-of-7 series against the Tampa Bay Lightning at 3-3. He thinks the Rangers figured out a few things in the process.

"I think they realize what has made them successful," Farrish said.

TAMPA -- If players and coaches truly believe that statistics from previous games don't matter once they get to Game 7, then the New York Rangers have to be as willing to throw away the numbers that show how they've been almost unbeatable when facing elimination as they are those that show how they've been largely ineffective at Madison Square Garden against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Since nobody seems willing to forget that the Rangers are 15-3 when facing elimination since 2012, 6-1 in Game 7s with Henrik Lundqvist as their goalie, and 7-0 in Game 7s at home, nobody can ignore the fact that they have scored four goals in three home games against the Lightning heading into Game 7 at the Garden on Friday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports).

The best-of-7 series is tied 3-3; the road team has won four of the six games. The Rangers are 2-1 with 17 goals at Amalie Arena; they're 1-2 with four goals at the Garden.

"It should be the other way around, but we're a pretty good road team," Rangers center Derick Brassard said.

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 have the unenviable role of having two days to dwell on their 7-3 loss to the New York Rangers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final on Tuesday.

Lightning coach Jon Cooper could spend time going through the video and finding the positives, because besides allowing seven goals, there were points in the game when the Lightning played well.

However, Chris Dennis said he believes that whatever positives might have occurred in Game 6, the best thing the Lightning can do is put what happened behind them as quickly as possible.

"If you're at this point, you're one game away from the Stanley Cup Final," he said. "You can't be looking back on what happened last night. It's over. You have to move on and prepare for Game 7. You can't focus on what just happened. If there's strategic changes that the coaching staff feels they need to make to adapt to something the Rangers did differently, then you would look back on that. Other than that you're moving forward and what's happened, happened. You have one game now to qualify for the Stanley Cup. That's what their focus will be."

TAMPA -- The Tampa Bay Lightning came at New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist with numbers seemingly every time they came down the ice. They were winning the middle of the ice, winning the possession game, winning everything but on the scoreboard through 40 minutes Tuesday.

Lundqvist was the difference, as he tends to be when the Rangers are facing elimination. He controlled the fire through two periods in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final at Amalie Arena. His teammates put it out with a dominant start to the third period.

The Rangers defeated the Lightning 7-3 to even the best-of-7 series at 3-3; they can eliminate them on Friday at Madison Square Garden (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports), where they do not lose Game 7s.

The Rangers are 7-0 all time in Game 7s at Madison Square Garden, including a win in the second round against the Washington Capitals. Lundqvist is 6-1 with a 0.97 goals-against average in Game 7s. He is now 15-3 with a 1.47 GAA and .954 save percentage in 18 elimination games since 2012.

TAMPA -- The meeting that helped save the New York Rangers season took place Tuesday morning in the cramped quarters of the visiting coach's room inside Amalie Arena.

Rangers coach Alain Vigneault called in centers Derick Brassard and Derek Stepan and presented them with a challenge.

"He challenged us to be a little better," Brassard said.

It was just the three of them. No voices were raised. Nothing crazy happened. No hard feelings. No animosity.

"We never felt he was angry with us, but it was good to have that little extra push," Stepan said.

Vigneault gave it to them because he knew that there was no way the Rangers were going to survive one more night in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs without a strong performance from their top two centers, or at least one that was stronger than they had in Game 5, when New York got shutout 2-0 at Madison Square Garden.