Fansided

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

By Steve Paulus |
NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 02: Boo Nieves #24 of the New York Rangers skates with the puck against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Madison Square Garden on February 2, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 02: Boo Nieves #24 of the New York Rangers skates with the puck against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Madison Square Garden on February 2, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)
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NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 02: Mats Zuccarello #36 of the New York Rangers skates with the puck against Erik Cernak #81 of the Tampa Bay Lightning at Madison Square Garden on February 2, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 02: Mats Zuccarello #36 of the New York Rangers skates with the puck against Erik Cernak #81 of the Tampa Bay Lightning at Madison Square Garden on February 2, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images) /

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.

NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 02: Louis Domingue #70 of the Tampa Bay Lightning tends the net against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on February 2, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 02: Louis Domingue #70 of the Tampa Bay Lightning tends the net against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on February 2, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Note on the game

  • The Rangers were lucky as Brayden Point missed the game with an undisclosed injury.  They couldn’t take advantage.
  • With his assist on the Hayes goal, Lundqvist passed John  Vanbiesbrouck for first place all time in assists by a goalie.  It was Hank’s 26th of his career and his second assist this season.  He now has more points than Cody McLeod.
  • The Rangers outshot the Lightning for the game 33-23.   The scoring chances for both teams was pretty even.
  • Ranger forwards had 20 shots on goal.  The Zibanejad line accounted for nine of them.
  • The Rangers pulled their goalie with 2:19 left in the third period and went with a five forward lineup for most the rest of the game. They were able to keep the puck in the Tampa almost the entire time.
  • The Rangers learned their lesson from the last game, taking only one penalty to Adam McQuaid in the second period.  They held the Lightning to one shot.
  • The Rangers had four man-advantages and went 1-4.  They were held to only three shots on the four power plays.
  • Pavel Buchnevich had an active game, playing over 21 minutes.  Quinn relied heavily on the Zibanejad line as he and Zuccarello both played over 25 minutes.  Boo Nieves and Cody McLeod saw less than four minutes of ice time and Jimmy Vesey saw a little over nine minutes.
  • Brendan Smith continues his revival and he led all defensemen with three hits.
  • The Zibanejad line has 12 goals and 17 assists in their last five games.  The rest of the team has seven goals and 12 assists.  Secondary scoring is non-existent.
  • The Lightning have gotten 28 out of a possible 32 points versus Metropolitan Division teams (14-2).
  • Things are going really badly in Hartford.  The Wolf Pack lost their seventh straight game tonight. They’ve been outscored 32-13 in those seven games.
NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 02: Mats Zuccarello #36, Mika Zibanejad #93 and Chris Kreider #20 of the New York Rangers celebrate after scoring a goal in the second period against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Madison Square Garden on February 2, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 02: Mats Zuccarello #36, Mika Zibanejad #93 and Chris Kreider #20 of the New York Rangers celebrate after scoring a goal in the second period against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Madison Square Garden on February 2, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images) /

My three stars of the game

  1. Mika Zibanejad, who else?  He played over 25 minutes and had two brilliant assists.  He won 12 of 21 faceoffs and played a fierce, dominant game.   He didn’t leave the ice for the last three minutes of the game.
  2. Mats Zuccarello continues to be Zibanejad’s wingman.  He scored an even strength goal to get the Blueshirts going and had a team leading five shots on goal.  He is playing as physically as he ever has and was in every scrum around the net. It’s a joy to watch him play.
  3. Kevin Hayes  finally got off the schneid and scored his first goal since December. You can see he is shaking off the rust and he led the rush and made some nifty moves carrying the puck.  His power play goal was a nasty one-timer that sort of knuckled past Domingue.  The Rangers really need Hayes to start setting up his linemates or the season will go south in a hurry.

dark. Next. Be glad they're not the Knicks

The office three stars

  1. Steven Stamkos
  2. Mika Zibanejad
  3. Louis Domingue
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