The New York Rangers will play the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Final.
The Rangers advanced with a 6-2 win against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 7 of the second round on Monday. The Lightning swept the Florida Panthers with a 2-0 victory in Game 4 at Amalie Arena in Tampa on May 23.
New York is the No. 2 seed from the Metropolitan Division and will have home-ice advantage against Tampa Bay, the No. 3 seed from the Atlantic Division.
“Tomorrow morning we’ll start our preparation and go from there,” Rangers forward Chris Kreider said Monday. “Quick turnaround and they obviously pose an entirely different challenge.”
Mika Zibanejad leads New York with 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Adam Fox is second with 18 points (five goals, 13 assists), and Andrew Copp is third with 12 (six goals, six assists).
Igor Shesterkin is 8-5 with a 2.68 goals-against average and .928 save percentage in 14 starts this postseason. He also has three assists.
[RELATED: Complete Rangers vs. Lightning series coverage]
Nikita Kucherov leads Tampa Bay with 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) this postseason. Victor Hedman is second with 10 points (two goals, eight assists), and Ross Colton (five goals, three assists), Steven Stamkos (four goals, four assists) and Ondrej Palat (four goals, four assists) are tied for third with eight.
Andrei Vasilevskiy is 8-3 with a 2.22 GAA and .932 save percentage.
“He’s the best goalie in the world right now,” Shesterkin said of Vasilevskiy. “I think it will be a good battle. We will try to do all the best to try to score on him.”
The Lightning went 0-2-1 against the Rangers during the regular season and were led by Stamkos and Brayden Point, who each had a goal and an assist, and Hedman, Alex Killorn and Ondrej Palat, who each had two assists. Vasilevskiy was 0-2-0 with a 3.03 GAA and .875 save percentage. Brian Elliott allowed three goals on 23 shots in his only start, a 4-3 shootout loss on Dec. 31.
Zibanejad…
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