The Wraparound: Lightning running out of time to solve Rangers, Shesterkin

The Wraparound is your daily look at the 2022 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. We’ll break down the NHL playoff games today with the all-important television information.

•  The Avalanche are a win away from advancing to the Stanley Cup Final following a 4-2 win over the Oilers in Game 3.

•  Nazem Kadri will miss the remainder of the Western Conference Final and possibly longer following a hit by Evander Kane.

• The Eastern Conference Final shifts to Tampa Bay as the Lightning tries to avoid a 3-0 deficit.

The Tampa Bay Lightning has been the NHL’s best team for the better part of the past seven seasons. They are a constant in the Eastern Conference Final, have been in three Stanley Cup Finals, and have won the past two championships. Over the first two rounds this postseason they beat an outstanding Toronto Maple Leafs teams and then easily swept the Presidents’ Trophy winning Florida Panthers in four consecutive games.

They looked like they flipped the switch and were ready to make a run at the NHL’s first back-to-back-to-back run of Stanley Cups since the early 1980s New York Islanders.

It is very possible they could still get there. Nobody should count them out. But they seem to have certainly met their match in Igor Shesterkin and the New York Rangers as they face a 2-0 series deficit heading into Game 3 of their series on Sunday afternoon.

It continues a season-long storyline where the Rangers have simply had the Lightning’s number.

In five head-to-head meetings, regular season and playoffs, the Rangers are 5-0-0 against the Lightning this season, outscoring them by a 19-8 margin, including a 13-3 margin during 5-on-5 play. They are the one team that has given Tampa Bay trouble all season.

For the Rangers, it has been