The New York Rangers (45-20-4) are having a season to remember as the leaders of the NHL Metropolitan Division and boasting their best PTS% (.681) since 2015 with just 13 games left in their schedule.
The Rangers, however, won’t want to reminisce about what happened following that 2015 season or two years ago in the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs when they went on to lose both series to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Following their 6-3 loss to the Lightning on March 14, the Rangers might not be able to escape those thoughts and nightmares.
In a 6-3 come-from-behind victory by the Lightning, the Rangers surrendered a quick 2-0 lead earned throughout the first 30 minutes of play, then a 3-2 lead in the final frame and with just about 18 minutes left in regulation.
Tampa Bay’s center Brayden Point made the difference and tied a franchise record by netting 6 points including scoring a hat-trick and providing 3 assists.
According to Stathead, it’s the third time a Tampa Bay Lightning player has scored 6 points in a single game following Doug Crossman (who did it in November 1992) and Point’s teammate Nikita Kucherov (November 2023). It was Point’s first 6-point game since he made his debut back in 2017.
Point’s prior career-high in the points column was 5, which he racked up in October 2018 and then again earlier this season, in a game at Carolina in November 2023. Point already had five other games with 4-point tallies, with two of those taking place between February and November 2023. The Rangers can’t say they didn’t see this coming.
“It’s very cool,” Point told the media after the win against New York. “You know, just one of those nights where everything kind of seems to work out.”
New York’s Track Record Against Tampa Bay Is Ominous
The Rangers and the Lightning have some history between them when it comes to postseason matchups. Most recently, back in the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Rangers found themselves in a deep run toward the Stanley Cup Final and leading the ECF two games to none against Tampa Bay. New York, however, lost Game 3 to the Lightning after leading that contest 2-0 only to end up getting swept through the final four games of the series by Tampa Bay.
On March 14, the Lightning didn’t win four games in one fell swoop but they scored four unanswered goals to beat the Rangers. The win marked the first victory over New York this year for the Lightning, closing the regular-season series between both franchises with a losing 1-2-0 record.
Tampa Bay started the game slow on Thursday, fell two goals down early, and was helped by a rash of bruises suffered by New York Rangers players as well as a brief period in which first-line center Mika Zibanejad had to leave the rink after getting hit in the face with the puck.
That said, it cannot be argued how resilient Point and his teammates were and how the team performed as he led them to a come-from-behind win that might generate some doubts within the Rangers organization.
They say first impressions (or full-season records, in this context) matter the most, but if the Rangers and the Lightning meet in the playoffs, it’s fair to assume this late-season loss might be the thing living inside New York’s collective mind and haunting them.
Rangers & Lightning Projected for 2024 First-Round Series Matchup
Not only do the Rangers have a reason for fearing a matchup against Tampa Bay in the upcoming postseason because of what happened two summers ago and back in 2015 (another ECF loss, 4-3 overall, to the same Lightning), but through games played on Wednesday, March 20, both teams are projected to meet each other in this year’s first round of the playoffs.
New York holds a 2-point lead over second-place Carolina in the Metropolitan Division, while Tampa Bay (37-25-6) has the No. 4 seed in the Atlantic division, good enough to have them leading the Eastern Conference Wild Card race by 4 points over the Detroit Red Wings.
With fewer than 15 games to play but still a full month remaining, everything can happen and seeds can change in that span. If the season ended today, however, the Rangers and the Lightning would meet each other to kick off the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Lightning, while not the superpowered team they were during the 2020-2022 span (they made three consecutive Stanley Cup finals and won the first two) are still rostering a 2024 Hart Trophy candidate in Kucherov (NHL-leading 118 points through March 20), an elite defender in Victor Hedman (12 goals, 55 assists, 67 points), and a bonafide franchise icon and captain in Steven Stamkos, not to mention new franchise legend Brayden Point.
While New York has the season-long edge over Tampa Bay, a better record and a better, more well-rounded roster, the firepower that the Lightning boast is undeniable. If both teams meet again in the postseason, the Rangers will need to stay alert for the full 60 minutes of play instead of just 20-and-change.
But hey, considering that means both franchises would meet three times in a decade, and that third time’s a charm, maybe the Rangers don’t need anything other than trusting popular wisdom.
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