Tampa Bay Lightning vs. New York Rangers Prediction, Tips & Odds – Jun. 5, 2022 21:00 CET
The defending champions have dug themselves into a hole in the Eastern Conference Final. The New York Rangers continued their fantastic home form in the playoffs and built a strong foundation with two wins before heading to Tampa. The Lightning exhibited some worrying signs in New York as they conceded nine goals in two games after only conceding three goals in their series against Florida.
Tampa Bay Lightning vs New York Rangers Odds
Tampa Bay Lightning Odds: 1.605
New York Rangers: 2.325
Total Over (5.5): 1.94
Total Under (5.5): 1.86
Odds presented by 22Bet.
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Tampa Bay Lightning Team News
If the Lightning want to get going, they have to improve defensively. They conceded six goals in the opener but managed to slightly regain their form in game 2 losing 3:2 after a much closer contest.
The back-to-back champions have only lost one home game in the playoffs so far and hope their strong home record will be enough to start a comeback. They can´t afford to drop game 3 which is pivotal so a much more spirited defensive effort is expected from them. The Rangers remained hot offensively from their semi-final series against the Hurricanes and put Lightning´s netminder Andrei Vasilevski under a lot of pressure in the opening two games. He can´t be blamed for the losses as Tampa´s defense was unrecognizable and struggled to contain New York´s deadly first line led by Mika Zibanejad, who has been the most efficient player in the playoffs along with Edmonton´s duo of McDavid-Draisaitl.
Back home Sunday for Game 3.
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) June 4, 2022
New York Rangers Team News
The Rangers are trying to enter their first Stanley Cup final in eight years. They had a solid regular season finishing in fourth place in the Eastern Conference and showed some signs they could compete for the title if an opportunity presented itself.
New York´s team has been a revelation in the playoffs knocking out both the Penguins and the Hurricanes in very tense seven-game series. It was against Carolina they made the breakthrough and started scoring. After they were kept quiet and averaged only 1.8 goals per game in the first five games of their semi-final series, they woke up and totaled 11 goals in the last two games. The fire remained with them as they scored nine goals against the Lightning in just two matches and also snapped Tampa´s long streak of 17 straight wins immediately following a loss.
The @TBLightning are one tough team to beat in the #StanleyCup Playoffs but the @NYRangers managed to do it again tonight. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/vRU27Ewebf
— NHL (@NHL) June 4, 2022
Tampa Bay Lightning vs New York Rangers Prediction
All of a sudden the Rangers are looking like title contenders. The Lightning thought they figured things out after dismantling the conference leaders in the previous round but they were in for a rude awakening in New York.
Losing game 3 would put the hosts into an extremely uncomfortable position so we can expect them at a much higher defensive level. The Rangers have been playing much better at home in the playoffs and will not be able to impose their tempo in Tampa. However, their defense and netminding have improved recently so they should be able to keep the game tight and low-scoring.
Prediction: Total Under 5.5
Odds: 1.86
Bookmaker: 22Bet
Date and time: 05.06.2022 21:00 CET
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