'Inside' Look at Eastern Game 5

What a difference two games make. Back-to-back defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay returned home to their Florida fans down a pair of games to the New York Rangers in the current Eastern Conference final.
Halfway through Monday's Game 3 of the series, the Lightning were staring at a two-goal deficit before rallying to beat the Rangers, 3-2, scoring on a last-minute goal to elude both overtime and facing elimination in Game 4 Wednesday. Instead, the Lightning shut down NYR's potent offensive in Game 4 in a 4-1 win to even the series at two games each with Game 5 Thursday at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Kraken play-by-play announcer extraordinaire John Forslund, calling the series for Sports Radio America and the NHL Radio Network, says the conference final has "changed dramatically" but not necessarily surprisingly so.

"Tampa, they continue to do what they do, which is get better as the series goes along," says Forslund about Tampa's achievement of winning the last 10 postseason series, now hunting for an 11th. "They put themselves in position where they can dictate the game and shut down the middle, shut down the interior of the ice, which they did really well last [Tuesday] night."
For his part, Forslund put himself in a lofty position himself this season. The Athletic website published its annual fan survey this week to name the best local NHL broadcasts across the league's 32 team markets plus input from out-of-market and national fans.
Forslund and partner JT Brown, the former TBL player turned ROOT SPORTS Northwest analyst, tied for second place in the Kraken's inaugural season (the first-ever season for Brown too). Forslund and team were praised for teaching the sport to new fans here in the Pacific Northwest while not offending more knowledgeable hockey fans during telecasts. From his first interview when named the Kraken team broadcaster, Forslund's clear goal was to accomplish just that outcome.
"It's an honor and I'm so grateful to the fans," says Forslund, who expressed happiness for his partner and friend Brown (praised for drawing upon "experiences from his playing career without resorting to cliches"), plus the callout for the "data-driven analytics" reporting and "on-ice storytelling" by another newcomer to the airwaves, Kraken colleague Alison Lukan.
In New York preparing for Thursday's Game 5, Forslund says the Rangers will need to find a way to work the aforementioned "interior of the ice."
"The Rangers have to find the ability to fight through it and the willingness to do so," says Forslund. "It wasn't there in the fourth game at all. They're going to have to, especially during 5-on-5 play. The power play is one thing. The power play for the Rangers is the best one of the playoffs. But it's not going to determine the winner of the series."
Speaking of play up the middle of the ice, second-line center Ryan Strome missed Game 4 and is uncertain for Thursday. Third-line center Filip Chytil (seven postseason goals, NYR 2017 first-round pick) will be a game-time decision, too, leaving NYR thin at the crucial centerman position.
"Those injuries come in an area the Rangers can ill-afford, which is down the middle," says Forslund. "Tampa Bay is getting it done without [star scorer and center] Brayden Point, which is exceptional. You take Strome away, that disrupts the lines. And then now Chytil, he's a guy who's having a great series and a great postseason, amazing, you know."
Forslund points out an important fact about this series, in which the home squad has won each of the four games-and the same pattern of all home wins in the Carolina-NYR second-round series. While crowd noise is a motivator and energizer, he says, a bigger factor is the home-team coach gets to make the last move sending out lines when there is a pending faceoff after stoppage in play.
During the Rangers' home wins, NYR coach Gerard Gallant was sending out his "Kid Line" centered by Chytil to neutralize Tampa's top scoring line while TBL coach Jon Cooper did the same with his third-line checking unit going out to face Rangers top scorers.
"The last change in line matchups can make such a difference," says Forslund. "The checking lines can force the best players on the ice to chip the puck into the offensive end and go back to the bench [to finish a shift getting long without much to show for it.]"
Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper told the media after Game 4 he thinks the nine-day layoff between series (by virtue of TBL sweeping the Florida Panthers) "wasn't good" for his all-world goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. His opinion is Vasilevskiy is back in the groove.
Forslund agrees, but thinks Rangers young star goalie Igor Shesterkin is holding his own: "Vasilevskiy was not sharp in New York, but he answered the challenge and you know what he's done in past years. He's arguably the best goalie in the league.
"Shesterkin, he's going to be fine [earlier noting he made 49 saves in Game 3]. I don't think he's running out of gas. I don't think he's going to drop his level down. As a matter of fact, I think he'll be really good in the fifth game ... I just think the Rangers, now, they're going to have to earn their scoring and players like Chris Kreider is going to have to be a bigger factor in 5-on-5 play, as a big body who wants to get to the middle of the ice in the offensive zone."