Preview: Rangers Clash With Lightning in Road Trip Finale

RANGERS at LIGHTNING, 7:30 p.m.MSG, 98.7 FM
TAMPA - RangersTown turned out by the thousands on Saturday night in Sunrise, none happier or more proud than the players' dads who filled a suite to watch their sons open up a road trip with a victory. So the Blueshirts know what kind of traveling support they'll have when they face one of their stiffest tests yet this season.
The Rangers returned from a five-day layoff with a shootout victory over the Panthers on Saturday night, and on Monday will look to complete a perfect Dads' Trip 2018. They'll have to raise their level to do so, because Monday's opponent is the 23-7-1 Tampa Bay Lightning, who lead the NHL with 47 points and have won six straight games coming in, the latest a 7-1 dismantling on Saturday night of the then-Western Conference co-leading Colorado Avalanche.
"It will be a challenge, that's for sure," Lundqvist said on Sunday after the Rangers practiced with their dads in the stands at Amalie Arena. "They have a really strong team, probably the best team in the League I think.
"They have extremely good defensemen; their forwards, they can all shoot the puck, they move the puck really well side-to-side. So you can't be locked in on one or two guys, you have to be aware of all five guys out there. Their record speaks for itself. We're going to have to play our best game tomorrow to get two points."

Those players include two of the top three scorers in the Eastern Conference, in Nikita Kucherov (12-32-44 points, third in the NHL) and Brayden Point (21-18-39, tied for sixth in the NHL). With 30 points captain Steven Stamkos is a distant third, although he made up ground with two goals and two assists in the rout of Colorado. Lundqvist's counterpart, Andrei Vasilevskiy, has been out the past three weeks with a fractured foot, skating with his teammates for just the first time on Saturday morning.
On Sunday morning, Lundqvist wouldn't lay a hand on the burning question of the day, which was whether he would stick with the new set of goalpads he debuted on Saturday or revert to his older, worn-in set against the Lightning. "We'll see - gametime decision," he laughed.
But new pads or old, Lundqvist got better as the game got later on Saturday, and even though he wasn't happy with the first two goals he allowed, there is no question his play in the late stages was instrumental in the Rangers' taking both points out of the game. His poke check ruined Jonathan Huberdeau's overtime breakaway just minutes before he came out to challenge and stop Mike Matheson to send the game to a shootout, which the Rangers won for the fifth time in six shootouts this season.
"Almost every hockey game you have momentum swings. You're not going to see the same type of game for 60 minutes, almost never," the goaltender said. "I felt like that last minute there were a couple big opportunities both ways. It was a good feeling to get two points. We worked really hard throughout the game and I thought we earned it in the end."
Still, coming out of the layoff with a strong 20 minutes after which they led 2-0, then finding themselves tied 3-3 after two periods, was a point of concern for David Quinn after the game and on Sunday. He warned following the game that "you can't rely on one good period."
"We're digging ourselves out of a little bit of a rut that we've been in lately, and I think maybe the last two and a half weeks we've lost a little bit of our confidence," the coach said Sunday. "So maybe when a team scores a goal two minutes into a period, we react to it, and don't do the things we were doing that put us in the position to get a 2-0 lead and play well from the first period. It's two games in a row where we've had leads, and we took a dumb penalty and it's in the back of our net and the whole complexion of the game changes. We've got to clean up that part of our game and put ourselves in a better position to play for 60 minutes."
That caution only heightens against the League-leading Lightning. "And the way they're rolling, for sure," Quinn said. "You can't help them beat you. You've got to play a smart game, be confident in what you're doing."
The coach loaded up his top line against the Panthers on Saturday, with Kevin Hayes moving from center onto Mika Zibanejad's right. The two combined for a goal and two assists against the Panthers, but against a Lightning team that boasts a lethal set of top-six forwards, Quinn will split them again and restore Hayes to the middle.
"There's a couple reasons why we did it, and I'll keep a couple of them to myself," Quinn said. "It's something I wanted to see, take a look at. I thought (the Chris Krieder-Zibanejad-Hayes line's) first period was really good, didn't love their second and third. … After long discussions, we felt for our best interest and for his, he's better off in the middle."
Apart from the line changes, the Rangers should dress the same 20 skaters from two nights before, with Lundqvist in goal; Mats Zuccarello (groin), who has missed five straight games and 11 of the last 13, practiced with the team on Sunday at Amalie Arena, but Quinn said "I'd be stunned if he plays."
Back on the blue line, in addition to Freddy Claesson's first multipoint game in a Blueshirt (1-1-2), Quinn praised Brady Skjei's game against the Panthers as "probably his best game of the year." Skjei had sat out the Rangers' previous game, last Sunday against Winnipeg, as a chance to "take a breath" and observe a game, his coach said. He returned to the lineup on Saturday with an assist on Matt Beleskey's hugely important second-period goal, along with two shots on goal and a pair of blocks in 19:19 of ice.
"Brady had a really good first period, probably his best period of the year. I thought he played well after that too," Quinn said. "I'm not surprised - we know what we have in Brady as a player, our organization certainly understands what we have in Brady as a player. It was a big step in the right direction for him to get his game back to where he wants it to be and where we want it to be.
"We all have no doubt that it's going to happen. It was really good to see him have the game he had last night because I thought it was probably his best game of the year."

PROJECTED LINEUP

20 Kreider - 93 Zibanejad - 90 Namestnikov
26 Vesey - 13 Hayes - 16 Strome
72 Chytil - 21 Howden - 17 Fast
39 Beleskey - 50 Andersson - 38 Fogarty
18 Staal - 44 Pionk
76 Skjei - 77 DeAngelo
33 Claesson - 22 Shattenkirk
30 Lundqvist
31 Tokarski

NUMBERS GAME

Matt Beleskey became the 22nd player to score for the Rangers over their 29 games; only Vancouver (23) has received goals from more players this season.
Through 31 games the Lightning are the runaway League leaders in goal scoring, averaging 3.94 per games. Toronto is second at 3.63.
Tampa Bay is 20-2-1 when Nikita Kucherov makes the scoresheet.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Vlad Namestnikov (2011) and Brett Howden (2016) each face off against the team that drafted them with the 27th overall pick in their respective drafts. Namestnikov, who scored his first career shorthanded goal on Saturday night, moves back into a top-six slot next to Mika Zibanejad, while Howden, facing the Lightning for the first time since being dealt to Broadway in February, will have a fellow rookie lining up to his left in Filip Chytil, who scored his first NHL goal against the Lightning back on March 30 at the Garden.
Brayden Point, Tampa Bay's third-year center who is Howden's good friend and former junior teammate in Moose Jaw, is tied for second in the NHL with 21 goals. He has scored 12 times in his last 13 games.

WHADDYA SAY?

"He was super excited, even before the game. And of course when I scored, that's really special for me and for him and for my family. I'm really happy he's here and enjoying this. He's never been in Florida before, so he's super excited and happy." - Freddy Claesson on scoring a goal and an assist Saturday with his dad, Kenneth, in the stands
2018-19 Rangers Tickets Are on Sale Now. Click Here to Get Tickets »