NHL Playoffs 2022: Latest Expert Reaction to Rangers vs. Lightning Game 4

The Eastern Conference Final is back where it started, with the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning tied. And with the teams battling for a spot in the Stanley Cup Final, anything could happen from here.

On Tuesday night, the Lightning earned a 4-1 victory to knot the series at 2. After New York won Games 1 and 2 at home, Tampa Bay responded by winning Games 3 and 4 on its home ice. Now, the Rangers are set to host Game 5 on Thursday.

If the trend of the home teams winning continues, New York will be in good shape, with Game 5 and a potential Game 7 taking place at Madison Square Garden. The winner of the series will advance to face the Colorado Avalanche, which swept the Edmonton Oilers 4-0 in the Western Conference Final.

The Lightning relied on their defense in Game 4, holding the Rangers scoreless for the first 56 minutes and 27 seconds. Tampa Bay had three goals by then (one coming in each period), and Artemi Panarin's strike with 3:33 to go wasn't enough to get New York back in it.

Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy had an impressive showing for the Lightning, tallying 34 saves in the victory. Some people think it could be a return to form for the 27-year-old, who allowed nine goals over the first two games of the series before giving up only three over the past two:

However, as Eduardo Encina of the Tampa Bay Times noted, the Lightning's strong defensive effort wasn't solely because of Vasilevskiy. It was also because of their play in front of the net:

The Rangers will hope to take back control of the series when they return to New York, but they are up against a Lightning team that knows how to get things done at this time of year.

The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions are dangerous in any series, especially when they start stringing together wins.

That's why Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post thinks the series may not be going in the Rangers' favor, even though they won their two home games and have been playing competitive contests.

"The teams will play Game 5 at the Garden on Thursday night but even with the Rangers still owning home-ice edge, it feels like advantage Lightning, now that Tampa Bay has wrested away the momentum of the series," he wrote.

Others expressed similar sentiment in believing that Tampa Bay may now be in control:

What can New York do to finish the series strong and get back to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2014? Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News noted that the Rangers need to get more production out of their top line featuring center Mika Zibanejad and forwards Panarin and Chris Kreider.

Leonard wrote that New York's top offensive players "continue to get stuck in mud" of late. That was evident as the Rangers struggled to get much going on that end of the ice in Games 3 and 4.

With the Lightning owning so much playoff experience, he made another good point: "There is no advantage in allowing a series against a reigning two-time Stanley Cup championship team to drag on."

But there seems to be a good chance that the Eastern Conference Final will be going the distance if the Rangers bounce back to win Game 5. Because it's also going to be difficult for them to win on the road in Game 6.

Still, New York can't look that far ahead. It will first need to halt Tampa Bay's momentum and play as well on its home ice as it did in the opening two games of the series. Otherwise, the Lightning could again be on their way to the Stanley Cup Final.