A Rangers statement win 4-0 over Tampa

If anyone thought the New York Rangers were in trouble before this game, they had good reason.  Minutes before pregame warmups it was announced that Artemi Panarin was in the COVID protocol.  Patrik Nemeth was also unable to play due to a non-COVID health issue.  Not only that, but Tampa got Andrei Vasilevskiy and Anthony Cirelli off the the COVID list and Eric Cernak back from an injury. If the Blueshirts took a licking from a Tampa team looking to avenge a shootout loss on Friday, no one would have been surprised.

Instead, the Rangers came out and played a perfect hockey game.  They got outstanding goaltending from Igor Shesterkin early.  Mika Zibanejad notched a hat trick with two goals on the power play.  They totally shut down the Lightning in the third period,  holding them to nine harmless shots.

They did this with a lineup that included rookies Nils Lundkvist and Zac Jones as the third defense pair with Jones and Tim Gettinger making their season debuts.  The trio of defensemen including Jones, Libor Hajek and Lundkvist has played 119 NHL games combined.  Not a single individual Tampa defenseman has played fewer than 187 games.  The average age of the Rangers defense was 23.5 years.  Compare that to Tampa whose defense average age is 29.  And look who got the shutout.

Gallant was asked to assess his rookie third pairing of Lundkvist and Jones. “Real good, they moved the puck good…you try to get match ups you want…they were against the top line sometimes and did real well. They didn’t show a lack of confidence and that’s important.”

It was game that needed big performances and they got them.  But the rest of the lineup also responded.  Gallant complimented Goodrow and singled out Lafrenière,  “When you got some of your top players out of the lineup and some of the kids get a chance to  to step up…Laffy goes up to the second line and plays good hockey. It’s a good thing for them and good thing for management to see them step up.  It makes the coach feel a lot better when you see those guys when they go into a bigger role and they succeed.  It was a big day for us.”

After sweeping an away and home series against the Stanley Cup champions, so much for the Rangers not being able to beat playoff teams.

About the game

The Rangers got off to a fast start and almost got right on the scoreboard when Goodrow rung one off the post less than two minutes into the game.  Then, just two minutes later Zac Jones was undressed by Brayden Point for a breakaway, but Lundkvist got back in time to force Point to shoot the puck wide.

Julien Gauthier drew a hooking penalty at the 7:23 mark and the Rangers power play scored just 21 seconds later after Zibanejad won the crucial offensive zone faceoff. Fox got the puck to Kreider who passed to Zibanejad who was in Panarin’s usual spot and he blasted it past Vasilevskiy.

With the teams playing 4v4, it was Steven Stamkos who took a careless high sticking penalty against Zibanejad.  The Ranger center won the draw again and his pass to Kaapo Kakko deflected off Ryan McDonagh and into the Tampa net.

This one took only eight seconds.

Two minutes later it was Ryan Strome who took a fabulous pass from Barclay Goodrow on an odd man rush and he fired the puck past Vasilevskiy.

It was 3-0 Rangers and the Lightning were as stunned as a jubilant Garden crowd.

Although the Rangers scored three times, the Lightning had a number of excellent scoring opportunities and Shesterkin was lights out. Outshooting the Rangers 12-10, Tampa finally got a power play with 1:57 left in the period and it was an all out assault with Shesterkin repelling eight Tampa shots as the period ended.

Tampa came out and controlled play in the second period, but again, it was the Rangers who scored as Mika Zibanejad controlled the puck in the offensive zone and executed a give-and-go with Kreider, scoring his hat trick goal on the doorstep.

The Lightning disputed the goal, claiming that Zibanejad had touched the puck with his stick above the shoulders, but after a lengthy video review, the goal stood.  4-0 Rangers.

The third period was a textbook defensive effort. The Rangers kept the Lighting on the perimeter and the Blueshirts didn’t get a shot on goal until a Ryan Reaves effort 13 minutes into the period.  The Rangers ended up blocking 18 shots including eight in the third period alone.

Here is a video recap of the game.

Notes on the game

The win improved the Rangers record to 21-8-4 and 46 points, good for third place in the Metropolitan Division.  They have the second most points in the NHL behind only Tampa, Carolina and Washington.  They would be in first place in both Western Conference divisions.

The win snapped a three game home losing streak and improved their home record to 9-3-2.

They are now 6-8-2 against teams currently in a playoff position.

Artemi Panarin missed his second game this season, the first being the shootout loss to Vegas.

For Mika Zibanejad he scored the eighth hat trick of his career and his seventh as a Ranger.  That ties him with Rod Gilbert, Steve Vickers, Frank Boucher, Mark Messier for second most all time for the franchise.  Bill Cook leads with nine career hat tricks.

Zibanejad now has 11 goals for the season. Last season it took the same 33 games to get to 11 goals.

Chris Kreider had three assists, giving him 11 on the season. He has seven assists in his last five games after getting four in his first 28.

Adam Fox added two power play assists.   With 33 points he pulled within one of NHL leader Victor Hedman.  His 28 assists leads all blueliners and is third overall in the NHL.

As mentioned by Gerard Gallant, Alexis Lafrenière played a dynamic game on the left wing of Ryan Strome and Barclay Goodrow.  His ice time of 17:43 was the most he played all season, just one game after his season low.  He was noticeable on the forecheck and had four shot attempts.

Tim Gettinger played 12:10 in 18 shifts on the fourth line and didn’t look out of place. It was his nine NHL game spread over four years.

Zac Jones teamed with Nils Lundkvist and played 13:32, the fewest minutes of any blueliner. He was totally fooled on a break in by Brayden Point early in the first period, but shook it off and had a solid game.

Nils Lundkvist played 14:21 and actually saw some time on the penalty kill in the third period.

With Adam Fox teamed with Libor Hajek, he played “only” 20:31 after topping 30 minutes on Friday.  It was the pairing of Jacob Trouba and K’Andre Miller who played the most, both topping 25 minutes with Miller actually leading all skaters with 26:52.

The Rangers won 61.2% of the faceoffs (30-19) after going even with Tampa on Friday.  Mika Zibanejad won 74% of his draws Friday and 71% in this game.  It helped immensely on the power play and led to two Ranger goals.

The Rangers had three power plays in the game, but had the man advantage for only 2:29 as they scored in 21 seconds on their first goal and eight seconds on the second.

With two wins against Tampa this season, the Rangers have beaten them twice in once season for the first time since 2016-17.

The Rangers own the Atlantic Division, winning 10 of 12 games.  Their only losses were to Toronto and Florida and they have yet to play Detroit and have seen Ottawa only once.

The Rangers like matinees having won all three that they have played this season. Last season they won six of nine day games.

For Igor Shesterkin this was his second shutout of the season (though he shared the one in which he got injured) and the fourth of his career.   He faced 38 shots and his 38 saves are the third most this season.

This was the first head-to-head meeting between Shesterkin and Vasilevskiy.

With Panarin on the COVID list, the Rangers moved Morgan Barron from the Taxi Squad to the active roster.