Tampa Bay @ New York preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 10, 2018 ) NY Rangers 3, Tampa Bay 6

The New York Rangers are playing like a team intent on getting back into the playoff race as they go for a fifth win in six games Saturday, when they host the league-leading Tampa Bay Lightning. The Rangers have registered a total of 17 goals in the four triumphs during their revival after Thursday’s 4-3 victory over New Jersey and outshot Philadelphia 38-19 in the only loss.

“We can’t look too much at the standings right now,” Rangers All-Star goaltender Henrik Lundqvist told reporters after winning his fourth straight start on Thursday. “We have to take every game as an opportunity to get better, and we will see where we are at the end.” The Rangers are eight points out of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference while the Lightning are off to the best start in franchise history and come in off Friday's 1-0 shootout win on the road against the New York Islanders. Defenseman Victor Hedman recorded the only goal in the bonus format and Andrei Vasilevskiy turned aside 36 shots for Tampa Bay, which has lost back-to-back games just once all season. The Lightning have won each of their last two visits to Madison Square Garden, including a 7-3 triumph in March, and are a league-best 18-6-2 on the road this campaign.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBC

ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (38-11-2): Nikita Kucherov leads the league with 79 points, including four in his last four contests, but captain Steven Stamkos saw his seven-game point streak (four goals, seven assists) come an end on Friday. Hedman, who is two points shy of 400 for his career, unleashed six shots versus the Islanders and has registered 20 - along with five of his 34 points - in his last four games. Vasilevskiy (21-7-2, four shutouts), could be rested in the second half of the back-to-back set in favor of Louis Domingue (16-4-0, 2.99 goals-against average, .905 save percentage), who turned aside 23-of-26 shots to beat the Rangers on Dec. 10.

ABOUT THE RANGERS (22-21-7): Mika Zibanejad recorded a hat trick on Thursday, giving him eight goals and five assists in his last seven games, while linemates Chris Kreider (team-high 23 goals) and Mats Zuccarello (six-game point streak) - who is slated to play in his 500th NHL game on Saturday - also are producing. “The way we’re working, we’re trying to use each other out there as much as possible, trying to use things we’re good at and implement that in our game,” Zibanejad told reporters. “It’s clicking for us right now.” New York is 6-for-13 on the power play over its last five contests, with Zibanejad scoring four of the goals during that stretch.

OVERTIME

1. Tampa Bay LW Alex Killorn, who is third on the team with a plus-14 rating, is two goals away from 100 for his career.

2. The Rangers have won a league-high five games in the shootout (5-2) - one more than Tampa Bay (4-0).

3. The Lightning are 4-0-2 in the last six games of the all-time series, including the 6-3 home victory on Dec. 10.

PREDICTION: Lightning 4, Rangers 3