After sweeping the Florida Panthers in 4 games, the Tampa Bay Lightning were set off to face the New York Rangers after a game 7 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Both teams have had a fierce season thus far and the matchup between the 4 seed Rangers and 5 seed Lightning is one for the books. 

In game 1 of the series, the Rangers struck quickly, with Left Wing, Chris Kreider scoring a little more than a minute into the game. The Lightning answered, with Center, Steven Stamkos putting one in with about 13 minutes left in the first period. The second period started off slow, but as 7:50 elapsed, Rangers Center, Frank Vatrano put one in the back of the net. However, the Lightning tied it back up 2-2 in less than a minute with Left Wing, Ondrej Palat answering back with one of his own. With it all tied up, fans believed this game could go either way… they were sadly mistaken. Filip Chytil put two of his own in the final minutes of the 2nd period. Up 4-2, the Rangers were dominating and it only continued into the 3rd. Artemi Panarin scored 30 seconds into the final period and the last goal came from Mika Zibanejad, putting the Rangers over the Lightning 6-2. 

In game 2, Lighting got on the board first with a power-play goal from Nikita Kucherov. Shortly after, K’Andre Miller evened the score on a goal from Chris Kreider and Frank Vetrano. With Just under 3 minutes to play in the first period, the Rangers struck again with a goal from Kappo Kakko. Assists on the goal came from Filip Chytil and Adam Fox. After a scoreless second period, the Rangers struck again with a goal from Mika Zibanejad, his 9th of the postseason. Fox and Kreider both had their second assists of the game on the Zibanejad goal. With just over 2 minutes left, the Lighting struck back with a goal from Nick Paul. This push was too late and the Rangers took a 2-0 lead over the Lightning in the Eastern Conference Finals. 

In game 3, the game started slow with no scoring in the first period. The Rangers led the scoring off in the second period when Zibanejad scored on a powerplay from Adam Fox and Artemi Panarin. Shortly after, Chris Kreider continued the scoring with a goal from Panarin and Zibanejad. Kucherov slowed the Rangers’ roll with a goal from Stamkos and Hedman. The third period did not go as planned for the Rangers. After a quick power play from Steven Stamkos, the game was all tied. The next 18 minutes of the period were scoreless until Ondrej Palat snuck one through Igor Shesterkin to take a 3-2 lead with less than a minute left in the game. 

Mr. Basilicato had this to say about the NHL Playoffs: “It’s been exciting to see the young talent in the NHL play so well in the playoffs. I think the future of the NHL looks very bright.”

Game 4 will be a very interesting game as it is the determiner for both teams. Either the Rangers go up 3-1 with a very good chance at being the champions or the Lightning tie it up 2-2 with the Stanley Cup being a toss-up.