TAMPA, Fla. -- Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals goes off Wednesday night at Amalie Arena. Here is what to watch for with the series between the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning tied at 1-1. Game time is 8 p.m. ET.
Lethal Bolts power play: Tampa Bay’s power play has been electric for the past seven games. Whether it scores or not, it has created a lot of momentum for the Lightning. It’s been night and day from the opening round, when the team’s unit was stonewalled by Detroit.
"Sometimes things don’t work the way you want and against Detroit that happened to us," talented winger Nikita Kucherov said after Wednesday’s morning skate. "The puck just didn’t go in for us. We had some frustration. It just feels like as soon as we scored that first power-play goal against Montreal, we got some momentum. We’re trying to move the puck well and take as many shots as we can. It’s been working so far."
After struggling for the opening eight games of the postseason, the Lightning struck for four power-play goals in Game 2 against Montreal and they haven’t looked back since. Every night the power play has been dangerous looking even if it hasn’t scored. The key has been to move the puck with zest.
"When you move the puck, it’s hard to defend," Kucherov said. "When you move it and make shots, you create scrambles, it’s tough to play against. That’s what we’re trying to do."
Rangers' discipline: It stands to reason that the Rangers understand they need to be disciplined in order to minimize the Lightning's power-play chances. Head coach Alain Vigneault said after Wednesday morning’s skate that it’s impossible not to take penalties at all, that he’s OK with the ones that prevent scoring chances, but says he wants his team to avoid the stick-related type.
"We had four of those last game," Vigneault said. He said his players understand they can’t take those types of penalties.
"Discipline at this time of year is crucial," said Rangers penalty killer Dominic Moore after Wednesday’s morning skate. "The margins are so small. They’ve been executing well on their power play and we got to limit their opportunities."
Marty's back, again: Former Lightning captain Martin St. Louis returned to Tampa to play his old team during the regular season, but now he's back on a much bigger stage and getting the initial return out of the way back in the regular season was a good thing.
"Yeah, coming back here regular season, it was definitely a tough thing, I think, just being here for so long, but I think we're well past that now,” the veteran winger said Tuesday. "You know, I mean, Tampa's always going to be a special place for me and my family, but I'm coming here as a New York Ranger and trying to get through this conference final and get to the Stanley Cup final."
Still, with so many ties to the Tampa organization and community and current players, it’s a unique situation for him.
"You know, it's probably the only time that I say I have a lot of friends on the other side," he said. "I've never really had that before. And I guess you accumulate friends when you're somewhere for so long, and it's not just the players. Yeah, that is unique, but when the puck drops, people play hockey. I don't think (then) that I have some friends on the other side; I'm trying to help my team win."
Captain calls out Rangers: Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh called his team’s performance in Game 2 embarrassing, and he doesn't regret saying so.
"I've never seen the group play like that," he said Wednesday. "There are just a lot of things that we can control, and just trying to make certain that we realize what happened and focus both individually and as a group, but you can't afford to do that.
"Really trying to grasp this opportunity because of where we're at. This is the Eastern Conference finals. There are only two teams left here vying for a chance to go on and compete for the Cup. We've got to give ourselves a better chance than that to keep this dream alive."
Translation: The Rangers will be much better Wednesday night.
PROJECTED LINES
Neither morning skate told us much about lineups, and it’s possible both teams dress the same lineups they did in Game 2. For the Lightning, that would mean once again going with 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
Rangers
Rick Nash - Derick Brassard - Kevin Hayes
Chris Kreider - Derek Stepan - Jesper Fast
Carl Hagelin - Dominic Moore - Martin St. Louis
Tanner Glass - James Sheppard - J.T. Miller
Ryan McDonagh - Dan Girardi
Lightning
Ondrej Palat – Tyler Johnson – Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn – Valtteri Filppula -- Steven Stamkos
Brenden Morrow - Brian Boyle -- Ryan Callahan
Victor Hedman – Anton Stralman