Blue Line Station
Fansided

New York Rangers Force Game Seven vs Tampa Bay

By Jessica Joy Curtin

facebooktwitterreddit

The New York Rangers took on the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Final in which the Rangers would tie up the series to force a Game Seven.

95. Final. 3. 23. 7

FIRST PERIOD: The New York Rangers started off on the right foot, quickly getting the puck out of their own zone and dumping it into the Tampa Bay Lightning’s. J.T. Miller stole the puck, squeezed it past two Bolts and found Derick Brassard (7) who crossed in front of Ben Bishop to open up the five-hole and score for the early lead, 3:36 in.

Marc Staal was hit with a penalty for holding at 13:03. On the Tampa Bay power play, the Rangers cleared the puck then had a shorthanded chance. Henrik Lundqvist then robbed Steven Stamkos, hanging out in the crease all alone, with a last second pad save. Lundqvist wasn’t about to make that same mistake twice in this series, especially in an elimination game.

At 15:30, Keith Yandle (2) took a shot from the blue line, the puck redirected off of a Tampa Bay player and just missed Bishop’s glove, bringing the Rangers lead up to 2-0.

With the Lightning now frustrated, Steven Stamkos put a hard hit on Stepan from behind, giving the Ranger an obvious bloody nose. In truth, Stamkos should’ve been called for boarding but play went on instead. In response, Kreider put a clean hit on Stamkos, but lost his damn mind by following up with a cross check.

On the Rangers penalty kill, Ryan Callahan sank a backhanded shot to put the Lightning on the board late in the period.

New York Rangers
New York Rangers /

New York Rangers

Heading to the locker room, the Rangers held the 2-1 lead despite being absolutely dominated by the Lightning in shots on goal. 16-7.

SECOND PERIOD: At 6:35, Nikita Kucherov took a trip to the box for hooking. A downright horrible power play for the Rangers ensued and an odd man rush developed for the Lightning after Kucherov flew back onto the ice.

The Rangers then picked up their game, keeping pressure in the Lightning zone as Brassard drew a penalty on Brenden Morrow. On the man-advantage, the puck hit the post and miraculously stayed out of the Bolts net as Kreider poked away at it. Then a shorthanded chance for Tampa Bay resulted in Lundqvist being run over, but the goalie was more than okay as he denied the Lightning on a huge opportunity to tie the game.

Lundqvist kept the Rangers in it with a phenomenal .965 SV% while Bishop held a .888 SV% as the Bolts outshot the Rangers again, 13-11. The score was still 2-1 by second intermission.

THIRD PERIOD: Since there was a ridiculous number of goals scored in the final twenty minutes alone, and nobody wants to be here for half an hour reading about it, here’s a fun list:

More from Rangers News

  • Brassard never quit on a play and J.T. Miller makes it worthwhile with his first goal of the postseason, bringing the Rangers lead to 3-1.
  • Rangers forced turnovers and kept play in the Lightning zone as James Sheppard scored his first of these playoffs, the score now 4-1.
  • Brassard scored his second goal of the game, New York now up 5-1.
  • Bolts striked back with Kucherov’s goal, the score now 5-2.
  • Almost halfway through, Nesterov is called for slashing and Rick Nash makes them pay for it with a power play goal, gaining the 6-2 lead.
  • Kucherov scored again, surprise surprise, 6-3 now on the score board.
  • With Bishop off the ice, Brassard buried an empty netter for a hat trick with less than two minutes on the clock, making it 7-3.
  • Lundqvist blocked a shot with a header to celebrate.

By the end of it all, the Rangers closed the game out strong with 16 shots over Tampa’s 10 in the third.

STARS OF THE GAME:

1- Derick Brassard – three goals, two assists

2- Henrik Lundqvist – 39 saves, .923 SV%

3- J.T. Miller – one goal, three assists

Next: The Rangers Shouldn't Count Out Talbot

More from Blue Line Station

Home/Rangers News