New York Rangers just not good enough in a 3-2 loss to Tampa

The New York Rangers took on the best team in the league and dominated two periods, but couldn’t overcome a three goal deficit and lost 3-2.

It was an odd game.  Once the Lightning took the lead it felt like a loss was inevitable, but these New York Rangers never give up and came within inches of tying the score in the final seconds.

The Rangers came out flying and owned most of the first period.  They took four of the first five shots and Tampa had difficulties getting through center ice. The only problem was when the period ended, Tampa had a 1-0 lead.

At 6:51 a headman pass from Brady Skjei was intercepted and the Lightning broke into the Ranger zone.  Yanni Gourde took a shot that went off Kevin Shattenkirk’s skate and it ended up on the stick of Ryan McDonagh who took the shot.  Henrik Lundqvist made the save, but the puck trickled through him and Gourde was there to literally push it into the net.

The Rangers ended up with an 8-6 shot advantage although the number is deceptive as they had possession of the puck most of the period.

The second period was a different story as the Lightning controlled play and took a 3-0 lead. Erik Cernak scored his first NHL goal at 4:41 to make it 2-0.   On a four on two break Ryan Callahan passed to the rookie defenseman who beat Lundqvist with a snap shot.  It looked like a goal that Lundqvist could have stopped.

Four minutes later, at 8:33, Steven Stamkos snapped a shot over Lundqvist’s shoulder and it appeared that it was going to be a rout.  It was an All-Star team goal as the assists went to Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman.  Stamkos’ shot was brilliantly placed in the top right corner of the net once he scored,  Rangers looked outclassed.

At the 16:17 mark, the Rangers top line came alive and Mats Zuccarello got the Rangers on the scoreboard.

Zibanejad made the play with his pass to Zuccarello and his screen in front of the net. It was the kind of goal that line has been scoring and it woke the team up as well as the crowd.  The Rangers ended up with the last four shots of the period and went into the intermission with some hope.

Overall, it wasn’t a very good period.  The Lightning outshot the Rangers 13-9  and the Blueshirts seemed to chasing Tampa players in their own zone.

In the third period, Tampa started to show some of the effects of playing three games in four nights.  The Rangers absolutely ran roughshod over the Lightning, aided by two power plays. The Rangers scored on the first one at 6:49 on a one-timer from Kevin Hayes off a marvelous backhand cross ice pass from Zibanejad.  The whole play was started on a rare Henrik Lundqvist headman pass.

The Rangers swarmed the Lightning, but couldn’t get the tying goal.   Louis Domingue was solid in net  for Tampa and stopped Kreider several times as well as a Ryan Strome breakaway in the first period that needed two saves.

Lundqvist saved his best for the third period, including this stop of a Ryan Callahan breakaway.

The Blueshirts had several stellar chances and Chris Kreider was stopped  twice on the doorstep after they pulled Lundqvist, but they couldn’t beat Domingue.

The Rangers outshot the Lightning 16-4 in the third period and were clearly the better team, but that three goal outburst was just too much to overcome.   The Zibanejad line was outstanding, but the lack of secondary scoring is really hurting the Rangers.