TAMPA BAY LIGHTING NOTES:
LAST GAME
Lightning 5 vs. NY Islanders 0
The Tampa Bay Lightning earned a third-straight victory with a 5-0 win over the New York Islanders April 1 at AMALIE Arena…With the win, Tampa Bay clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and improved to 45-26-6 on the season with a home record of 27-7-5…The Bolts are now 2-0-0 vs. NYI this season with a final meeting scheduled for April 6 at UBS Arena…Mikhail Sergachev opened the scoring at the 17:53 mark of the first period when he took a pass at the point from Ross Colton and fired a shot that found its way through traffic and beat Ilya Sorokin for his ninth goal of the season…Darren Raddysh recorded the secondary assist on Sergachev’s goal for his first career NHL point…At the 3:42 mark of the second period, Tanner Jeannot scored his first goal as a member of the Lightning when he hammered home a pass from Pierre-Edouard Bellemare to give Tampa Bay a 2-0 lead…Ian Cole picked up the secondary helper on Jeannot’s sixth goal of the season…Nikita Kucherov made it a 3-0 game with 10:03 remaining in the middle frame after taking a stretch pass from Brayden Point and beating Sorokin blocker side on a breakaway for his 29th goal of the campaign…Sergachev hit the 50-assist mark for the first time in his career with the secondary helper on Kucherov’s goal…Just 1:48 after Kucherov made it 3-0, Steven Stamkos pushed the lead to 4-0 when a pass from Raddysh went off his skate and past Sorokin to give him 33 goals on the season with Point recording the secondary assist…With 6:34 remaining in regulation, Point scored a power-play goal when he took a pass from Kucherov and beat Semyon Varlamov blocker side for his 48th goal of the year…Alex Killorn recorded the secondary assist on the Bolts’ final goal of the contest…Andrei Vasilevskiy recorded his second shutout over the past three games, stopping a perfect 38-of-38 shots against…Killorn skated in his 800th career NHL game.
PP: TBL – 1-2 NYI – 0-3
SOG: TBL – 32 NYI – 38
Attendance: 19,092
TONIGHT’S MATCHUP
The Lightning and Rangers are playing the third of three matchups this season and the second of two meetings at Madison Square Garden…The Bolts are 1-1-0 vs. NYR this season following a 3-1 loss Oct. 11 at Madison Square Garden and a 2-1 shootout win Dec. 29 at AMALIE Arena…Among all Tampa Bay skaters, Nikita Kucherov (0-2—2), Brayden Point (1-1—2) and Steven Stamkos (1-1—2) are tied for the team lead in scoring vs. NYR this season…Kucherov has picked up points in seven of his last eight games vs. NYR (2-10—12)…Kucherov has pointed in nine of his 11 career games at NYR (3-9—12)…Point has found the scoresheet in nine of his last 10 games vs. NYR (4-7—11)…Point has picked up points in five of his last six games at NYR (4-3—7)…Stamkos has recorded points in eight of his last 10 games vs. NYR (7-7—14) and eight of his last 10 contests at NYR (4-7—11)…Victor Hedman has collected 12 points over his last 11 games vs. NYR (1-11—12)…The Bolts are 5-5-0 in their last 10 road games at NYR and 5-4-1 in the last 10 meetings overall…Tampa Bay is 50-46-7 with five ties all-time vs. NYR, including a road record of 24-27-2 with two ties…Martin St. Louis (20-26—46) holds the Lightning franchise record for career points vs. NYR.
TBL ALL-TIME POINT LEADERS VS. NYR
- Martin St. Louis – 46 pts. (20-26—46, 46 GP)
- Steven Stamkos – 39 pts. (18-21—39, 38 GP)
- Vincent Lecavalier – 32 pts. (16-16—32, 52 GP)
- Chris Gratton – 27 pts. (10-17—27, 31 GP)
- Nikita Kucherov – 23 pts. (6-17—23, 23 GP)
TONIGHT’S STORYLINES
Tampa Bay is playing the first game of a three-game road trip tonight, the team’s final road trip of the regular season…The Bolts will play three of their six games in April on the road…The Lightning are 18-19-1 on the road this season…Tampa Bay is 13-7-2 against Metropolitan Division opponents and 24-18-3 against the Eastern Conference this season…The Bolts have scored four or more goals in three consecutive games (14 total goals)…The Lightning penalty kill is nine-for-nine over the last three contests…Tampa Bay has surrendered three goals over the past four games…The Bolts are 10-4-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets this season.
INJURIES
2022-23 Regular Season Man Games Lost: 104
Current Injuries:
None
NEW YORK RANGERS NOTES:
LAST GAME
New York Rangers 5, Washington Capitals 2 – April 2, 2023 – Capital One Arena
NYR Goals: K. Miller (9), A. Lafreniere (16), K. Kakko (16), V. Tarasenko (17), M. Zibanejad (39)
WSH Goals: D. Strome (19), A. Protas (4)
NYR Goalie: I. Shesterkin (W – 26/28)
WSH Goalie: D. Kuemper (L – 29/34)
NYR Shots: 34
WSH Shots: 28
NYR PP: 1/4
NYR PK: 2/2
RECAP/NOTES: The Rangers capped off the three-game road trip with a convincing win against the Capitals last Sunday afternoon. Artemi Panarin recorded three assists and Vincent Trocheck added two of his own. New York recorded its 23rd road win and 53rd point on the road, surpassing last season’s mark of 52.
RANGERS RUNDOWN
- The New York Rangers began their last back-to-back of the regular season with a home matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning (7:30 PM ET – TV: TNT – Radio: ESPN 1050 AM, Sports USA). The Blueshirts have five more games left in the regular season (three at home, two on road).
- Tonight in a pregame ceremony, the Rangers will award the second annual Rod Gilbert “Mr. Ranger” Award, given to the Rangers player “who best honors Rod’s legacy by exemplifying leadership qualities both on and off the ice, and making a significant humanitarian contribution to his community.”
- The Blueshirts have clinched a spot in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the 62nd time in team history they have made the postseason. New York’s 14 playoff appearances since the 2005-06 season are tied for the second most in the NHL.
- The Rangers have reached the 100-point plateau for a second consecutive year and 12th time in team history. New York’s six 100-point seasons since 2011-12 are the third most in the NHL behind Boston and Pittsburgh (7). Gerard Gallant is the first coach in franchise history to record 100-point seasons in his first two seasons.
- New York has points in 12 of its last 14 games (10-2-2) and wins in eight of its last 11 contests. At home, the Rangers have won six of their last seven and 11 of their last 14. The Blueshirts are 14-5-0 in their last 19 home games.
- Since December 5, New York is 34-11-6 for 74 points. In the NHL in that span, the Rangers rank tied for second in points, points percentage (.725), third in wins, third in goals per game (3.55), and fourth in power play percentage (24.3).
- New York’s plus-52 goal differential ranks tied for fifth in the NHL while its plus-25 differential in the third period ranks fourth in the NHL.
- New York has points in five-straight games against the Lightning (4-0-1) and seven of its last eight contests against Tampa Bay (5-1-2).
- Mika Zibanejad has 20 power play goals on the year. The Rangers are the first team since the 1992-93 & 1993-94 Boston Bruins, Winnipeg Jets and Pittsburgh Penguins to have a different player score 20+ power play goals in back-to-back seasons as Chris Kreider had 26 last year.
- Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin are the third pair of teammates in Rangers history to simultaneously post consecutive 80-point campaigns following Rod Gilbert and Steve Vickers (1974-75 – 1975-76) as well as Gilbert and Jean Ratelle (1971-72 – 1972-73).
- With a 2.66 mark, the Rangers have allowed the fourth fewest goals against per game in the NHL.
- The Blueshirts have 21 comeback victories this season, tied for the fourth most in the NHL. New York is 15-2-5 when tied after two periods – their 15 wins are the most in the NHL.
- When scoring four or more goals, New York is 31-0-0 and the only team in the NHL to have a perfect such record.
- For the fourth time (2022-23, 2015-16, 2010-11 and 2006-07) in the past 20 years, the Rangers have five different 20-plus goal scorers (Panarin, Zibanejad, Chytil, Trocheck, Kreider).
- The Rangers defensemen group has compiled 185 points, the fourth most in the NHL.
LAST FIVE GAMES
DATE OPPONENT RESULT
Apr. 2 at Washington W, 5-2
Mar. 31 at Buffalo OTL, 3-2
Mar. 30 at New Jersey L, 2-1
Mar. 28 Columbus W, 6-2
Mar. 25 Florida W, 4-3
MAN GAMES LOST – 50
PLAYER INJURY/REASON DATES MISSED CONS. GAMES MISSED
Ryan Lindgren Upper-Body Mar. 23-Apr. 2 6
ALL-TIME RECORD 53-41-5-9 (120 PTS)
2022-23 1-0-1
2021-22 3-0-0
NYR HOME 29-19-2-5 (65 PTS)
NYR AWAY 24-22-3-4 (55 PTS)
LAST FIVE MEETINGS 4-0-1
LEADING SCORER(S) – CURRENT RANGERS IN CAREER G: Kane (10) – A: Kane (21) – Pts: Kane (31)
LEADING SCORER(S) – ALL-TIME IN GAMES W/NYR G: Graves (14) – A: Leetch (33) – Pts: Leetch (43)
2022-23 SEASON SERIES
October 11 at MSG W, 3-1
December 29 at Tampa Bay SOL, 2-1
April 5 at MSG 7:30 PM ET
