Written by Rob on February 9, 2013
New York Rangers Vs. Tampa Bay Lightning: 2/10/13 Rob's Free NHL Hockey Pick
Photo by: USA TODAY Sports

The Rangers host the Lightning at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.


The Tampa Bay Lightning travel to Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Rangers on Sunday night.

An enfusion of energy is what the New York Rangers were looking for heading into their match up with the New York Islanders on Thursday night. Youngster J.T. Miller provided exactly that in just his second NHL game. Miller got the Rangers on the board just 1:29 into the opening period and added a power play goal on a breakaway just before the end of the second period in the Rangers' 4-1 win. Ryan Callahan returned from injury after missing just three games and the combination of him with Chris Kreider and Miller really gave the Rangers some much needed offensive depth that they've been missing. They still need to get Rick Nash firing on all cylinders and Brad Richards will have to elevate his game as well. Marian Gaborik and Ryan McDonagh also scored for the Rangers who really didn't allow much defensively to the Islanders all night long. Henrik Lundqvist was beaten high under the crossbar on a second period shot by John Tavares, but was perfect otherwise. He finished the night with 27 saves. Marc Staal had two assists in the game. Now the Rangers will look to take another game from the Tampa Bay Lightning who spent Friday night sitting through a blizzard in Boston and having their game with the Bruins on Saturday canceled.

After a 6-1-0 start to the season the Tampa Bay Lightning have now lost three straight games. After one goal loses against the Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers the Lightning looked to rebound when they traveled to New Jersey to take on the Devils on Thursday night. The Lightning just looked lethargic all night long and managed just 19 total shots on goal. Nate Thompson's second goal of the season evened the score at 1-1 in the second period but the Devils would regain the lead heading into the third. With under five minutes to play the Devils would get two goals in a 14 second span to break the game wide open. Matt Carle added his second goal of the season but the Lightning would fall by a final score of 4-2. Anders Lindback did everything he could to keep Tampa Bay in the game but it just wasn't enough with the lack of offense his teammates provided in front of him. Lindback finished the night with 23 saves on 27 shots. Tampa Bay went 0-for-4 with the man advantage. Over the past three games it's pretty clear that if the Lightning aren't scoring on the power play they have a lot of trouble offensively. They're going to need to find a way to generate things 5-on-5 if they want to be a playoff team at the end of the year.

The Rangers are looking to put some momentum together here and reel off a little bit of a winning streak. The Lightning need to stop the bleeding as they've played some pretty bad hockey over the past week. Two teams that might be heading in opposite directions. The Over is 5-2 the last seven meetings in New York.

Rob’s Pick: NY Rangers -146

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