Lightning at Rangers
An inability to prevail in one-goal games spelled the difference for the New York Rangers in last season's Stanley Cup Final loss to Los Angeles, but they are perfecting the winning formula this time around. New York looks to take a 2-0 lead over the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning in Monday's Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final after squeezing out a 2-1 victory in the series opener.
All 13 of the Rangers' postseason games have been decided by one goal and they are 9-4 overall, with seven ending with 2-1 scores. "This is a comfortable place for us to be," New York forward Martin St. Louis said after his team's NHL-record 15th consecutive one-goal playoff decision dating to last postseason. "We've been in tight games all year in the playoffs. We're used to it." The Rangers also managed to finally solve Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop, who had won his first eight career starts against them, but Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper was rankled more by his team's overall performance. "One team played like they'd been there before and the other one played like they hadn't," Cooper said.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, CBC, TVA
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING: Tampa Bay needs to find a way get some balanced scoring after Ondrej Palat netted the lone tally in Game 1, giving the "Triplets" line of Palat, Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov 18 of the team's 35 goals in the postseason. "To be honest, I don't think we tested (Rangers goaltender Henrik) Lundqvist as much as we should have, not a lot of quality shots, not a lot of shots period," said captain Steven Stamkos, a 43-goal scorer in the regular season. "We have to find a way to generate more." Ryan Callahan returned to the lineup five days after undergoing an appendectomy, but fellow former New York forward Brian Boyle sat out Game 1 and did not practice Sunday.
ABOUT THE RANGERS: Veteran forward Dominic Moore, who has played with nine different teams (including the Lightning), scored the game-winner with 2:25 left in the third period of Game 1, when a pass from Kevin Hayes caromed off his knee and into the net. Even though it was a bit of a fluke, Moore's teammates said it was no accident that he was in position for the decisive tally. "I'm all about preparation, and I can see him almost being like a goalie with everything he does to prepare himself to get into the right place going into every game," Lundqvist said. "I think that's why he's been so consistent throughout his career as well. He brings his game to a level that he's helping the team every night."
OVERTIME
1. New York tied an NHL record by recording its seventh win in a postseason when scoring fewer than three two goals.
2. The Lightning have been outshot in seven of their last eight games.
3. Lundqvist has limited the opposition to one goal eight times in 13 playoff contests.