The two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning aren’t ready to concede the throne just yet. After dropping the first two games of the Eastern Conference final to the New York Rangers, Tampa regrouped with a comeback win in Game 3 and a dominating performance in Game 4 to level the series. Game 5 takes place Thursday inside Madison Square Garden where the Rangers have won eight straight games outscoring opponents 35-16. Including their regular season shutout the Rangers are 3-0 at home against Tampa Bay this season. Still, oddsmakers pegged the champs as a -130 moneyline favorite on the NHL betting line.
The Stanley Cup playoff matchup between the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers takes place at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, June 9, 2022, from Madison Square Garden and will air live on ESPN. BookMaker.eu will have odds for every game on the NHL Playoffs schedule.
NHL Betting Lines at BookMaker.eu
Tampa Bay Lightning -130
New York Rangers +110
Total 5.5
Odds Analysis
During a run that’s seen Tampa Bay win over 66 percent of its regular season games over the past five seasons and back-to-back Stanley Cups, few teams have had as much success against them then the Rangers have had this season. The Lightning ended a five-game losing streak to New York with a thrilling win in Game 3 overcoming a 2-0 deficit and getting the game-winner with less than a minute left. That led to a typical Tampa performance in Game 4 smothering New York and getting three pucks past Vezina favorite Igor Shesterkin to level the series. With those wins Tampa Bay improved to 10-5 this postseason. With this series down to a best-of-three and New York having home ice, the Lightning needs at least one road win. Tampa posted the second-most road wins during the regular season and they won four of their first six away from home this postseason, including a sweep of the East best Panthers and a Game 7 thriller in Toronto.
The Rangers weren’t supposed to be here, but based on their play they deserve it. Even though they’ve been hot at the Garden all season they played the first two games of this series as an underdog and they have the longest odds to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup. Once again oddsmakers positioned New York as a home dog at +110. They cashed in big in the first two games of the series winning both by a combined score of 9-4. They’ve won eight in a row at the Garden since dropping the first-round opener to Pittsburgh in triple overtime. In contrast they are just 2-7 on the road allowing 11 more goals than they scored. With two of the top netminders in the league we’ve seen scoring at a premium. The teams cashed the UNDER in each of the last three games and in five of the seven meetings this season.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Seeing Andrei Vasilevskiy at the top of his game was a relief for Tampa fans. According to John Cooper the time off before the start of this series affected his netminder, which was as good an excuse as any. He allowed six goals on 28 shots in the Game 1 loss. He was better in Game 2 and stellar when Tampa needed him most stopping 62 of 65 shots in the last two games.
The skaters also did their job getting three past Shesterkin, which was more than enough. Pat Maroon scored the game-winner with Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos also scoring. Game 3 hero Ondrej taked on an empty-netter giving him two goals and two assists in the last two games.
New York Rangers
The Rangers are hoping home ice magic and the return of their scoring pop helps them get a win on Thursday. They’ve won eight straight at the Garden and outscored Tampa 9-4 in the first two games. While winning the first five games against the Lightning this season New York averaged 3.6 goals. They totaled three the last two games with all of them on the power play.
It’s nice to have the best power play in the postseason with the Rangers clicking at 32.1 percent with a PPG in eight of their last nine games. However, at some point they’ll need to convert at full strength since Tampa will do its best to stay out of the penalty box.
NHL Odds Pick
There’s nothing quite like the intensity of the Stanley Cup playoffs and with the Rangers experiencing a deep run while playing the maximum number of games they could be hitting a wall. That happens to teams with little playoff experience. That isn’t the case with Tampa who may have put New York on its heels with two straight wins. And with Vasilevskiy playing like a former Smythe and Vezina winner, Tampa will take control of the series.
NHL Odds Prediction: Lightning 3, Rangers 2
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