Vasilevskiy’s and the Lightnings’ streak of consecutive wins after losses was broken in Game 2. The question is, can they restart the streak tonight? They are at home, where they have been effective in both regular season and playoffs, and in a must-win situation.

The Rangers badly out-played the Lightning in Game 2, and are healthier, but haven’t been the same team on the road for the season and the play-offs. Other than the outlier in Game 7, their goal production vs the Hurricanes dropped considerably in road appearances. The Rangers have a young team and are likely fired up, but the Lightning have experience on their side. Look for a bounce back from Tampa Bay’s top players, and expect a much better performance from the Lightning. The issue for Tampa is, of course, Shesterkin. Considering his play in this series and last, it is hard to believe that the Lightning can run up the score tonight. Rangers + 1 ½ is a likely outcome, but is prohibitively expensive. I am back on the total. Look for some thing of a goaltender’s duel, and take the under.