New York Rangers Destroyed By Tampa Bay Lightning

FIRST PERIOD: The New York Rangers‘, and former Tampa Bay captain, Martin St. Louis drove the puck towards the net for a shot on goal, yet the tallest goalie in the league, Ben Bishop, was able to make the save. The puck was sent right back around to the other end of the rink and the Tampa Bay Lightning‘s Nikita Kucherov (7) took the 1-0 lead at 6:50, Tyler Johnson (14) and Ondrej Palat (9) logging assists. Rangers’ Marc Staal was called for tripping at 13:36 which Alain Vigneault was not happy about because of a previously missed call involving Anthony Duclair. On the Tampa power play, Captain Cal… err… Ryan Callahan (7) scored on a slap shot at 14:20, assists were credited to Steven Stamkos (9) and Valtteri Filppula (13). The Rangers then had their first power play when Matt Carle headed to the box on a tripping penalty at 19:20. The period ended with Tampa leading 2-0 and the edge on shots on goal at 7-5.

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SECOND PERIOD: At just 32 seconds into it, St. Louis (7) registered a power play goal, assisted by Derick Brassard (9) and Derek Stepan (4), to make it a one goal game. Moments later at 00:52, Stamkos put Mats Zuccarello in somewhat of a headlock and was called for holding. Tampa’s Alex Killorn was then called for tripping at 2:20, giving the Blueshirts a two-man advantage. The score was left intact, however, as play went back to 5-on-4 then full strength. At 9:00, Staal inadvertently hit Callahan with a high-stick. The Rangers were aggressive on the penalty kill this time around as Nash rushed to the net and had a good chance with his SOG. With the teams back to 5-on-5, multiple shots bombarded the Tampa net, yet all were stopped by Bishop. A turnover led to a breakaway goal by Stamkos (12) while Filpulla (14) logged an assist and Tampa gained the 3-1 lead at 14:08. Henrik Lundqvist then made a save that caused him to slide out of the crease and a Tampa player in front prevented Hank from blocking a shot off the rebound. Refs reviewed the play and disallowed the goal on account of goalie interference. Play continued with the score remaining at 3-1… but not for long when Killorn (3) ripped one past Hank, Johnson (15) and Palat (10) with the assists at 18:42, making it 4-1 for sure this time. Tampa dominated in SOG, 13-6, in these 20 minutes.

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THIRD PERIOD: Not as much action was seen this period. Brian Boyle dived to tap the puck into the net, yet ended up crashing into a goal post instead. A penalty on Rangers’ Dan Boyle for hooking at 10:22 led to an uneventful Tampa power play. Later at 17:09, a turnover to Stamkos and patience on the puck by Callahan (8) led to another goal for the Lightning, Stamkos (10) with the assist. The clock ran out on the Rangers as Tampa won 5-1. Tampa was also up in SOG at 10-5 this period but tied for face-off wins 26-26 overall.

STARS OF THE GAME: Ryan Callahan and Martin St. Louis