Rangers vs. Lightning: 5 things to know for Game 6

The Tampa Bay Lightning will attempt to return to the Stanley Cup final for the second time in history and first time since 2004 when they host the New York Rangers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final.

Here are five things to know for Tuesday's showdown (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 8 p.m. ET):

Man on a mission

What happened to all the talk of Steven Stamkos hiding an injury? Questions surrounded the Lightning captain in the Montreal series, when he had gone the first eight games of these playoffs without a goal, his longest scoreless streak of the season, after he fired 43 goals in the regular campaign. Stamkos seems like a player hungry to play in his first Stanley Cup final, having scored six times in the past seven games, including each of the last four games against the Rangers.

Stamkos is tied for second among all post-season players with 17 points, and his return to the scoresheet began with Lightning coach Jon Cooper's decision to move him from centre to right wing.

Brick wall when on brink

Rangers fans probably aren't ready to offer up a Game 7 guarantee, but it's tempting if you analyze Henrik Lundqvist's recent performances late in series. Since 2012, the New York goalie has a 14-3 record in elimination games to go with a 1.39 goals-against average and .956 save percentage. The numbers get even better in the last two post-seasons: 8-1, 1.31, .961 the last nine times the Rangers have been on the brink of elimination.

Finally, in Lundqvist's past six appearances in either a Game 6 or 7, King Henrik is 6-0 with a 1.13 GAA and .965 save percentage. For those wondering, Game 7 would be Friday night at Madison Square Garden.

Can't look ahead

Yes, the Rangers must take care of business Tuesday if there's going to be a Game 7 Friday, but it's hard to doubt them no matter how strong Ben Bishop looked in the Tampa goal during his shutout performance in Game 5. Since the 2012 playoffs, they have been to the brink of elimination 17 times and survived 14 such situations. New York has won each of the past six games that were either Game 6 or Game 7 of a Stanley Cup playoff series, dating to Game 7 of the 2014 Eastern Conference quarter-final against Philadelphia.

In Round 2 this year versus Washington, the Rangers were down 3-1 and won three straight games, including Game 6 on the road. They also rebounded in the second round against Pittsburgh last year when trailing 3-1 in the series.

Repeat performance?

The Lightning faithful are likely wondering if the Ben Bishop that allowed a combined 10 goals in Games 3 and 4 will show up Tuesday night at Amalie Arena or the 6-foot-7 puckstopper that was strong late in the previous two series. Bishop rebounded from the pair of stinkers with a 26-save effort in Sunday's 2-0 Game 5 victory.

In the final two games of the last series against Montreal, he posted a .931 and .947 save percentage, respectively. In Round 1 against Detroit, Bishop pitched a 31-save shutout in a winner-take-all Game 7 on the heels of a strong Game 6. Those efforts followed a Game 5 loss in which Bishop posted an .897 save percentage.

Special-teams focus

If Bishop isn't turning away everything in Game 6 or the Lightning's top playoff goal-scorers Tyler Johnson and Stamkos are having trouble finding the net, special teams might be the difference should Tampa Bay advance to the Stanley Cup final.

Prior to the Lightning's 2-0 win on Sunday, the Rangers managed two power-play goals in each of the previous two contests. But Tampa denied New York on all four of its chances on the weekend and delivered a knockout punch after the fourth kill with a Stamkos power-play marker.