Individual Game Recaps
Game 1: Rangers Take Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final
Game 2: Lightning Take Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final
Game 3: Lighting Take Game 3 of Eastern Conference Final in OT
Game 4: Rick Nash, Henrik Lundqvist Shine in Rangers’
Game 5: Ben Bishop Rallies to Push Rangers to the Brink
Game 6: Rangers Bury Lightning, Force Game 7
Game 7: Ben Bishop’s Shutout Leads Lightning to Stanley Cup Final
Series Recap: Lightning Defeat Rangers
The Tampa Bay Lightning are off the to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2004, when the franchise took home their first ever championship, while the Rangers fell short of heading to the final for the second consecutive campaign. Here are the storylines that defined the series.
Steven Stamkos Emerges
After producing well below his usual standards throughout the first two rounds, the former Rocket Richard winner finally stepped up his game, scoring four goals and seven points in the series, and was arguably the Lightning’s MVP over the course of the seven games. Up until that point, the line of Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov had done the heavy lifting, but their captain and most decorated skater came to play in the Eastern Conference final, and if he can play like he did against the Rangers, the Blackhawks will have their hands full with this team.
Goaltending Inconsistency
In a series that featured a former Vezina trophy winner (Henrik Lundqvist) and a 2014 Vezina finalist (Ben Bishop), one would have expected that the series would be a relatively low-scoring affair, and at times, that’s just what we got. However, there were several points throughout the seven games where the floodgates were open, and goals were being scored at a rapid pace. In game two, the Rangers allowed six goals, and followed that up with another one in game three (while the Lightning nearly matched with five against of their own.) The Lightning had another five go past them in game five, while Bishop, Andrei Vasilevskiy and the empty net combined to let in seven Ranger goals.
Making the situation even more bizarre, is the fact that each goaltender had their fair share of excellent performances as well. On four occasions each, both Lundqvist and Bishop allowed to or fewer goals, and in the case of Bishop, that includes two shutouts (one of those being in game seven.)
Ben Bishop Stands Tall When it Matters – Again
Despite heading into these Stanley Cup playoffs without a single game of playoff experience, Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop has come up big in games where the stakes are high, including two game sevens, en route to the Stanley Cup Final. In the seventh game against the Detroit Red Wings, Bishop made 31 stops for a 2-0 shutout win to move on to round #2. In game six against the Montreal Canadiens, he allowed just one goal on 14 shots for a convincing 4-to-1 victory, and as mentioned above, he put together 22-save performance to advance to the Cup final. If these past three rounds are any indicator, Lightning fans need not worry about the goaltending when the games matter most.
Martin St. Louis Trade Not Paying Off for Rangers
When longtime Bolt Martin St. Louis was shipped to New York at the 2014 trade deadline, he was brought in as another pedigreed scorer to compliment star winger Rick Nash, and add a bit more punch to their offence. After producing at a respectable (though unspectacular) pace during their run to the Cup final last season, St. Louis did very little to support an inconsistent Rangers offence during the first two rounds, and only produced three points in the seven games of the Conference Final. Now, it’s also important to note that the big-name that went over to Tampa, former captain Ryan Callahan, did next to nothing offensively against the Rangers, producing just a single point, but the key difference here, is there’s more to Callahan on the ice than just the scoring, whereas St. Louis was brought in as a big-ticket up front. Safe to say that the New York Rangers are not exactly thrilled with how this swap has transpired thus far.
