With their playoff spot secured, the Lightning will look to build on their three-game win streak and fine tune their game before April 17th.
Tampa Bay Lightning vs New York Rangers
Puck Drop: 7:30 pm EST
Location: Madison Square Garden
The Lightning kick-off their final road trip of the regular season beginning with a stop at Madison Square Garden.
Rest isn't necessarily on the agenda for the Bolts. With their playoff spot secured, they'll look to build on their three-game win streak and fine tune their game before April 17th.
“We have five games left. We want to make sure we’re playing the right way," said Alex Killorn.
“It’s easy at times when things are set, in terms of the playoff picture to take your foot off the gas and kind of get ready for the playoffs. We don’t want to do that. We want to make sure we’re playing our best and to do that, you have to be playing one hundred percent every game until then.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy was named the NHL First Star of the Week for his performance last week. He stopped 99 of 100 shots paired with two shutouts. The Lightning have outscored their opponents 14-1 the past three games.
In a similar fashion, New York has also started to play well as of late, going 7-2-1 in their last 10 games and averaging almost 4 goals per game. They clinched a postseason spot with 101 points in the Metropolitan division.
Patrick Kane has recorded his 15th season with 20 or more goals which trails only Alex Ovechkin (18x) for the most among active players. He has points in three of his last five games.
On the penalty kill, New York has been perfect in nine of its last 11 games (24-for-26).
The Bolts are 1-1-0 vs. the Rangers this season following a 3-1 loss Oct. 11 at Madison Square Garden and a 2-1 shootout win Dec. 29 at AMALIE Arena.
Games Remaining
Thursday, April 6 at New York Islanders
Saturday, April 8 at Ottawa Senators
Tuesday, April 11 vs. Toronto Maple Leafs