Lightning 'know what's at stake' against Rangers in Game 6 of East Final

TAMPA --The Tampa Bay Lightning have played enough games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs over the past three seasons to understand the opportunity they have heading into Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final against the New York Rangers at Amalie Arena on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, CBC, SN, TVAS).

Leading 3-2 in the best-of-7 series after winning the past three games, the Lightning are one victory from becoming the first team to reach the Stanley Cup Final in three consecutive seasons since the Edmonton Oilers from 1983-1985.
"These moments don't come often and fortunately we've been on the other side of it the last three years, getting the opportunity to put ourselves in a good situation to try to win again," Lightning forward Patrick Maroon said Friday. "And we're in a good really situation to go back to the Final right now. It's not an easy task. It's still going to be a long series here. We've got to find a way to just keep competing and keep working hard."
Before Tampa Bay can think about a potential showdown with the Colorado Avalanche, the Western Conference champions, in the Cup Final or moving a step closer to completing their quest for a third straight Stanley Cup championship, it must focus on closing out the Rangers, who are 5-0 when facing elimination in the playoffs this season. But appreciating the three-season grind the Lightning have already gone through to reach this point also provides perspective on what they're on the verge of achieving.
Saturday will be Tampa Bay's 65th playoff game since the start of the 2020 postseason, tying the NHL record for the most playoff games over a three-season span established by the Chicago Blackhawks from 2013-2015, according to NHL Stats. The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2013 and lost to the Los Angeles Kings in seven games in the 2014 Western Conference Final before winning the Cup again in 2015.
With best-of-5 series in the first round, the Oilers played 53 playoff games during their run of three consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Final, which began with a loss to the New York Islanders in 1983 before wins against the Islanders in 1984 and the Philadelphia Flyers in 1985.
"It's never easy and when you look back, especially these last two years, some of the things that have gone your way and the breaks you've made and the bounces you've gotten and how you've overcome the bounces you haven't received, it's all part of it," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "But it's not easy to do."
[Complete Rangers vs. Lightning series coverage]
Tampa Bay is bidding to become the first team to win the Cup in three consecutive seasons since the Islanders won four straight championships from 1980-83. The Lightning have already had a rougher road this postseason. When they won the Cup the past two seasons, they faced elimination once - in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Semifinals against the Islanders last season and won 1-0.
This postseason, the Lightning faced elimination twice in the first round against the Toronto Maple Leafs, rallying for a 4-3 overtime victory in Game 6 before winning 2-1 in Game 7. Despite losing center Brayden Point to a lower-body injury in Game 7 against Toronto, Tampa Bay swept the Florida Panthers in the second round before losing the first two games against New York in the conference final.
With their three-peat dreams in jeopardy, the Lightning pulled together to win the past three games, leaving them on the precipice of another Cup Final berth.
"Playoffs are hard in general," Maroon said. "Obviously, losing Point Game 7 against Toronto is a huge, huge loss for us, but I think the guys have stepped up huge, taking another step. … You just need that. You need everyone to kind of just chip away and fill that void that you're missing with 'Pointer.'
"But it's not the playoffs if someone's not hurt, right? So you've got to grind through it."
Maroon knows that as well as anyone. Having won the Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues in 2019, he's played 90 playoff games over the past four seasons, which are the most during a four-season span in NHL history, according to NHL Stats.
Center Nick Paul, who was acquired in a trade with the Ottawa Senators on March 20, hadn't played in an NHL playoff game before this season, but he's learned quickly about what goes into a long playoff run by watching the host of players around him who have experienced it many times.
"Guys on the team are going for three Cups, guys like myself, [forward Bandon Hagel] or other guys going for their first Stanley Cup, we know what's at stake and we don't take a game off," Paul said. "This is a really good team. You take a night off, they're going to give it to you, they're going to take it over. So we know what's at stake."
Although the Lightning's tank might be running low as they near the end of a third consecutive long playoff run, they're determined to push through that.
"When you get to this point and you're this close, the bumps and bruises, tired, fatigue, all those things, those have got to go out the window," Cooper said. "You play all year from preseason all the way through and go through the monotony of things that happen and injuries and now you're one game away from getting to the Stanley Cup Final, that should just trump anything that physically is hurting you. So we've had some success with it in the past, but again that's not guaranteeing anything that's going to happen in the future. We've got to bring our A-game."