Brayden Point’s absence didn’t cost Lightning in Game 5

The Lightning were again without Brayden Point for Game 5 against the Rangers. It didn’t matter, as they picked up a 3-1 victory Thursday night.

Though the star center participated in an optional morning skate, coach Jon Cooper said Thursday morning that Point still isn’t ready to return from a lower-body injury that has kept him out since the start of the second round.

Cooper has cast a more optimistic tone around Point’s injury recently, saying that he might be able to return by the end of the series, but hasn’t stated anything definitive.

“If he plays, he’s gonna be ready to play,” Cooper said. “He’s not ready to play right now.”

Point had 14 goals in each of the past two postseasons, helping the Lightning to back-to-back Stanley Cup titles.

Cooper said he expected to go with the same lineup for Game 5 as he did in Game 4, which would mean going with 12 forwards and six defensemen for the first time at Madison Square Garden in the series. Tampa Bay won with such a formation in their series-tying pair of wins at Amalie Arena.

Ryan Strome, who suffered a lower-body injury in the second period of Game 3 and was sidelined in Game 4, returned to the Rangers lineup.

Additionally, after missing a majority of Game 4 with an upper-body injury, Filip Chytil was back in the lineup for Game 5 against the Lightning.

Ryan Reaves was a healthy scratch for the first time this postseason in favor of Kevin Rooney.

With an average age of 26.7 years old, the Rangers are the youngest remaining teams in the playoffs. The Rangers are looking to become the first team to win a Stanley Cup with an average age of younger than 27 since the 1993 Canadiens.

The Rangers have four active players — K’Andre Miller, Kaapo Kakko, Braden Schneider, Alexis Lafreniere — who were born in 2000 or later. Chytil, who was born in 1999, is the fifth player 22 and under to compete in a game with the Rangers this postseason.

The five players had combined for 13 goals and 33 points in these playoffs entering Game 5.

Chytil led that group with seven goals, which is the second-most on the Rangers behind Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, who have scored 10 each. Alex Kovalev (13), Ron Duguay (11), Don Maloney (8) and Don Murdoch (8) are the only four players in Rangers history to have more playoff goals than Chytil before age 23.