Lightning vs Rangers Prediction, Stream, Odds & Picks

Tampa Bay Lightning are defending Eastern Conference champions. Ondrej Palat and Ryan McDonagh left the team for New Jersey Devils and Nashville Predators respectively. New York Rangers are equipped with difference-makers at all three levels. Tuesday night's season opener will feature Andrei Vasilevskiy and Igor Shesterkin.

Vladislav Namestnikov has played for five different teams in the last five seasons. He spent the first four seasons with Tampa Bay and part of the fifth with the Rangers. Namstnikov's career high of 22 goals (48 points) came in 2017-18.

Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad are the main focus for the Rangers. Alexis Lafreniere, Kaapo Kakko and Filip Chytil are expected to improve on last season's 34 goals and 37 assists. Tampa Bay won the last four irregular-season meetings with New York. The Lightning won in six games to win the Eastern Conference title last year.

Lightning vs Rangers is a game on Tuesday, October 11th at 7:30 p.m. ET at Madison Square Garden. Lightning are 51-23-8 in 2021-22 season and Rangers are 52-24-6.

Tampa Bay lost its first four games of the season. The Rangers won 2-3-1 in the preseason. Mikhail Sergachev is expected to play for Tampa Bay. Rangers are without Ian Cole and Zach Bogosian. Anthony Cirelli is out for the Lightning. Jacob Trouba and Sammy Blais are questionable for Tuesday's game.