Sure, the New York Rangers blew a third period lead and lost for the first time this season 4-3 Sure, they missed out on a valuable point or two. It was a statement game against a healthy Florida Panthers team and the Blueshirts fell short. But last night, that same Panthers team beat the Tampa Bay Lighting by the score of 9-3.
In case you missed it, Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and five points. Anthony Duclair scored twice. 15 different Panthers got on the scoresheet as they scored the most goals by any one team in the NHL this season. Get this, Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman had a plus/minus of -6. And they did this with Spencer Knight in goal instead of number one Sergei Bobrovsky.
Okay, the Panthers are completely healthy and Tampa has been hit hard by COVID and other injuries. Nikita Kucherov is on his annual trip to Injured Reserve. Seven Lightning players are out on the COVID protocol including both of their starting goalies in Andrei Vasilevskiy and Brian Elliott. Maxim Lagace of the lifetime 3.90 goals against average and .870 save percentage was in goal for six scores, before he was lifted for someone named Hugo Alnefelt who made his NHL debut and allowed three goals on 10 shots.
Also on the COVID list for Tampa are regulars Mikhail Sergachev, Anthony Cirelli and Taylor Raddysh along with fill-ins Andrej Sustr and Cal Foote. Defenseman Erik Cernak has been out for a while since blocking a shot with his foot.
Still, the Tampa defense includes Hedman, Ryan McDonagh and Zach Bogosian and Jan Rutta, all Stanley Cup champions. It gets a little dicey further down in the lineup as they have had to use Sean Day on defense. He’s the former Ranger draft pick who they gave up on and was signed by the Lightning last year. Former Ranger prospect Darren Raddysh made his debut on defense last night as well. So, one third of their blueline consists of players who weren’t good enough to keep in Hartford.
What it means for tonight
So, was their humiliation by Florida a good thing or a bad thing for the Rangers as they get ready to play Tampa tonight?
Bad: The fact that hey will be playing an embarrassed Lightning team on the road doesn’t help. The Lightning have repeatedly shown that they can win despite numerous injuries already this season. They have lost 81-man games to injury this campaign.
Bad: The last time the Lightning allowed nine goals in a game was in March 2009. They just don’t do that.
Bad: Any team with Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point, Victor Hedman and the rest of a battle hardened two-time Stanley Cup winning squad is a force to be reckoned with.
Good: It will be the second game of back-to-backs for the Lightning with the first game in Sunrise, so the Rangers will be the better rested team.
Good: This Ranger team gets another chance to prove that they are for real and Barclay Goodrow will have a reason to play his heart out against his former team.
Good: The Rangers go into this game knowing that they were thisclose to beating Florida despite missing Ryan Lindgren.
Good: Igor Shesterkin will be at the top of his game after a lousy third period against the Panthers.
Unknown: The key is the COVID list. Sergachev and the two goalies entered the Protocol on December 26. The NHL has relaxed its restrictions to five days with no symptoms and it’s possible that all three could be back for the game tonight. If they are, look out.
This is a Tampa team that hasn’t lost two games in a row in regulation all season. Yet, they are at their weakest all season. It will be up to the Rangers to be at their best and to take advantage. Let’s see what the Blueshirts are made of.
Oh, by the way, the last time the Rangers played in Tampa was on November 14, 2019. Guess what the score was? Tampa won, 9-3.