Tampa Bay Lightning (21-7-5, first in the Atlantic) vs. New York Rangers (20-8-4, first in the Metropolitan)
New York; Sunday, 12:30 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Steven Stamkos and Tampa Bay hit the ice against New York. He ranks fourth in the in the league with 39 points, scoring 16 goals and totaling 23 assists.
The Rangers are 14-3-0 in conference games. New York is ninth in the Eastern Conference recording 7.7 points per game, averaging 2.8 goals and 4.8 assists.
The Lightning are 15-6-3 in Eastern Conference play. Tampa Bay leads the Eastern Conference shooting 11.0% and averaging 3.2 goals on 29.6 shots per game.
The teams meet for the second game in a row.
TOP PERFORMERS: Chris Kreider leads the Rangers with 19 goals and has 27 points. Artemi Panarin has four goals and nine assists over the last 10 games for New York.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare leads the Lightning with a plus-nine in 32 games this season. Stamkos has four goals and nine assists over the last 10 games for Tampa Bay.
LAST 10 GAMES: Rangers: 5-4-1, averaging 2.7 goals, 5.1 assists, four penalties and 10 penalty minutes while giving up 2.8 goals per game with a .908 save percentage.
Lightning: 7-2-1, averaging 3.5 goals, six assists, four penalties and 11.8 penalty minutes while giving up 3.1 goals per game with a .900 save percentage.
INJURIES: Rangers: Nils Lundkvist: day to day (illness), Patrik Nemeth: out (covid-19), Kevin Rooney: out (health protocols), Artemi Panarin: day to day (undisclosed).
Lightning: Mikhail Sergachev: out (health protocols), Brian Elliott: out (health protocols), Andrei Vasilevskiy: out (health protocols), Erik Cernak: day to day (lower body), Anthony Cirelli: out (health protocols).
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by
