Lightning look to continue winning more battles than Rangers in Game 5

The Coaches Room is a regular feature throughout the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs by former NHL coaches and assistants who will turn their critical gaze to the game and explain it through the lens of a teacher. Rocky Thompson and Dave Barr will take turns providing insight. Thompson's focus will be on the Western Conference; Barr will handle the Eastern Conference.
In this edition, Barr, a former assistant with the Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild, New Jersey Devils, Buffalo Sabres and San Jose Sharks, discusses reasons why the Tampa Bay Lightning evened the Eastern Conference Final by winning Games 3 and 4 at Amalie Arena, and puts a target on some things to watch in Game 5 at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.

Watching Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final between the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning was a thrill for me. It was an opportunity to watch two well-coached teams engaged in a bit of a high-stakes, intense chess match on ice.
There were turnovers, but there were turnovers because of the pressure and the work away from the puck from both teams. So, a play that normally would be made was not getting made and instead became a turnover because of the way the defending teams were working.
It was phenomenal work that both teams were putting in to not turn the puck over and to try to create turnovers. You know the coaches had that "we can't afford to make turnovers here, can't afford to force plays" speech. You know they were talking about tracking hard, being gapped up. It was working both ways.
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I think the Rangers did enough right things to win, but the Lightning were just a little better in the 4-1 win for the same reason they were better in Game 3, a 3-2 win.
Their top players were their best players in both games, with the puck and without it.
We all know Nikita Kucherov can score and he did in Games 3 and 4, but the Lightning forward is battling away from the puck, working hard, earning his opportunities.
For example, there has been a lot of talk about what the Rangers could have done better on Kucherov's goal in Game 4 that gave the Lightning a 2-0 lead at 13:07 of the second period, but it was the forward who recognized there was open ice available in the middle and he worked to get to it. That's how he got the pass from Ondrej Palat and scored.
Steven Stamkos is working hard away from the puck too. He might be playing the best we've seen him play. Victor Hedman does so many of the little things right away from the puck that make him the defenseman he is.
Some of the plays Palat is making are directly leading to goals. He's winning battles and making terrific plays, which made him an impact player in Games 3 and 4.
They've got everybody in on this. It's so fun to watch.
The Rangers need more of that from their top players and secondary players.
Mika Zibanejad has been good, but the other players, especially Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider, must measure up to his level in Game 5 at Madison Square Garden on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, CBC, SN, TVAS).
The good thing for the Rangers is not only are they confident at home, they've also played well there, having won eight consecutive games at the Garden.
But they must get their hunger back and they have to get the top guys being the top guys.

Not having Ryan Strome (lower body) and Filip Chytil (upper body) available in Game 5 would be a big blow. Both centers are game-time decisions. If they're out, it would take a chunk out of the New York offense and put a lot of pressure on everybody else. It changes their makeup.
The Rangers have gone two straight games without a 5-on-5 goal. That's a credit to the Lightning and the way they're defending.
They have been making it hard for the Rangers forwards to get to the net when they are in the offensive zone. Tampa Bay's defenseman and the low forward are doing a great job of boxing out so when the puck does get through, typically the Lightning are on the defensive side of it and the Rangers can't get their sticks in there.
Watch the Lightning players away from the puck when a shot comes; they're immediately looking to box someone out.
The Lightning are also fronting pucks well.
The Rangers won two offensive zone face-offs in a row in the second period with Panarin on the ice. They ran a play where Panarin comes up high in the slot and gets the puck from the defenseman. Tampa Bay covered it perfectly. Panarin couldn't even shoot it to the net.
I saw the Rangers running the play and thought they should get a shot out of this, but then the Lightning had a defenseman fronting the puck. His man was Panarin. He followed him to the high slot to stop that play from happening. Panarin had to shoot it below the goal line off to the side because he had no play and he didn't want to create a turnover.
Credit Tampa Bay for being very organized off a face-off loss.
The Rangers were doing everything right in that instance and the Lightning were just better defensively so they could thwart a would-be offensive situation.
The Rangers did a lot of things right in Games 3 and 4, but the Lightning were just a little better in all areas.
Will that flip in Game 5 at the Garden?
We'll see.