Rangers beat Tampa 2-1 on Zibanejad PP goal with 16 seconds left

Notes on the game

The win improved the Rangers’ record to 39-18-5.  The Penguins beat Arizona so they remain two points ahead of New York.  The win moved New York three points ahead of Washington and two points up on the Bruins.

The Rangers’ domination over the Atlantic Division continues. They are an astounding 15-2-1 getting 31 of a possible 36 points.

The Rangers swept the season series from Tampa and are the only NHL team to win three games against them this season. The last time the Rangers won a game in regulation in Tampa was in December 2015. They did win three of six games in Tampa in the interim in overtime or shootout.

The six power plays were the most in one game for the Rangers this season. They have had five power plays in a game eight times.

The Rangers remained in second place in the NHL with a 26.6% success rate on the PP.  When they score on the power play, the Rangers are 26-6-4.

Mika Zibanejad moved into a tie for second placein the NHL with 13 power play goals, four behind Leon Draisaitl and Chris Kreider  who has 20.  He is two off his career high of 15, set in 2019-20.

Jacob Trouba tied his career high with his 10th goal of the season. He had 10 goals as a 19-year old rookie in 2013-14.

Igor Shesterkin beat Andrei Vasilevskiy for the second time this season and his career.  He stopped 28 of 29 shots and this season against Tampa he stopped 91 of 95 shots for a .958 save percentage.  Of the four goals he allowed, only two were at even strength.

Shesterkin improved his league leading save percentage to .938 and his top goals against average to 2.05.

Shesterkin also became the fastest Ranger goalie to reach 30 wins in a season, doing it in 41 games.  The previous best was 46 games for Henrik Lundqvist.

Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox added assists and Panarin is third in the NHL with 56 and Fox is second among defensemen with 53.  Roman Josi has taken over the league lead on an incredible run with 13 assists in his last six games and  now leads all blueliners in scoring.

The third line of Filip Chytil, Barclay Goodrow and Dryden Hunt had an excellent game and it was Hunt’s work on the boards that led to the Trouba goal.  Hunt just missed scoring in the first period when the puck slid off his stick when he could have backhanded the puck into an open net.  Goodrow was stopped point blank by Vasilevskiy just moments later.

The Rangers defense is something special considering their youth.   The Ranger defense’s average age is 24 and they held their own against a tough Tampa team. Compare that to the Lightning with a blueline that averages 28.7 years old with four players over 30.

This was the Rangers’ 21st come-from-behind win of the season, tied for the most with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The win improved the Rangers record in one-goal games to 23-8-5.  That record includes one-goal games when an empty net goal was scored.

Frank Vatrano’s mission has been to shoot and he led the Rangers in shots on goal with five.

This is the third time this season that the Rangers have won a game by scoring in the last minute of play.  They’ve won five games by scoring in the last three minutes of play.

Kudos to Ryan Lindgren standing up to Pat Maroon for running Shesterkin and to Ryan Reaves for following up by trying to get Maroon engaged in the third period.  Maroon was a punk for hitting Lindgren after the linesmen had tied them up and he was a total wuss when challenged by Reaves, not even trying to throw a punch. Shesterkin was playful with the Rangers’ heavyweight after the game.<

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