Rangers in control of series with 3-2 win that ends Tampa streak

The joy ride continues for the New York Rangers.  They beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 in a game that was more one-sided than the score.   The Rangers were clearly the better team, but they had to withstand an awful penalty call and a desperate push by the Lightning at the end of the game.

Coach Gerard Gallant talked about the Rangers. “I think we’re a good hockey team. We’ve played great hockey in the playoffs and we find a way to win games…the next game’s the most important one now.  This one’s over and it’s a good feeling, but the next one’s the big one.”

It means that the Tampa Bay Lightning’s streak of 17 straight wins after a playoff loss is over. They have now lost two in a row for the first time since they lost four straight to Columbus in 2019. Now, it’s Tampa’s turn to try to climb out of  2-0 hole. They’ve lost the last three times they have been down two games in a playoff series with their last win in the Quarter-Finals in 2011 when they came back from 3-1 deficit to the Penguins.

When it comes to series when they have lost the first two games, Tampa went on to lose four times in franchise history with their only success in 2003 against the Capitals.  That’s consistent with the NHL average with 86% of the teams that win the first two games in a series winning the series.

Surprise! They are good

The world has finally started to realize that the Rangers are a good team and are a true Stanley Cup contender.  People pointed to the Crosby injury and the Louis Domingue factor as reasons the Blueshirts won their first series.  The excuse in the second round was all about goaltending  There are no excuses now as the Rangers have opened some eyes with their two wins against Tampa.  For the first time this postseason, the Rangers are being taken seriously.

Adam Fox alluded to it after the game. “We heard all year that (the team) wasn’t really going to have playoff success.  We’ve said it all year, the belief in the room is high and the outside opinions doesn’t really affect anyone…the guys in the room believe in each other and the outside noise or any perceptions of our team really doesn’t affect our mindset going into the games.”

K’Andre Miller was asked about it. “I think the guys in that room, they don’t really see that.  Yeah, Pittsburgh was good series, the Hurricanes was  good series, at the end of the day it’s what we do and what we control in each series we play. It’s just the guys in that room believing in what we do and finding ways to win.”

The good and the bad

There was an awful lot of good in this game.  Adam Fox was absolutely brilliant and Mika Zibanejad continues to step up. The Rangers dominated in terms of possession over the first two periods. Shesterkin was rock solid, though not challenged as much. The tandem of K’Andre Miller and Jacob Trouba was outstanding and Trouba laid one of his hits on Anthony Cirelli.

There were some problems. The Rangers went 0-4 on the power play, totaling nine shots on goal. The Blueshirts also went into a defensive shell in the third period after taking the two goal lead and it almost cost them.  Coach Gallant pointed that out after the game.  “We were playing pretty good hockey until that last 10 minutes. We made it 3-1, we played a great game.   They took it to us, they stepped their game up, Shesty made some great saves to keep that win.”

The game

The resilient Rangers had to overcome an early power play goal by Tampa that was result of a bizarre penalty to Ryan Reaves just 2:31 into the game. Pat Maroon and Reaves were intent on damaging each other, but were prevented by the officials and that let to more jousting after a faceoff.  Reaves slashed Maroon who slashed back and punched Reaves.

Inexplicably, Reaves was the only one who was a minor penalty.

When Nikita Kucherov scored ten seconds into the power play, all of those predictions about the Lightning’s ability to come back after losses looked like they were going to come true.  Not so fast.

The Rangers responded with two first period goals to take the lead which they padded with a third period goal. K’Andre Miller scored the first Ranger goal, gather the puck after his first shot had been blocked and putting a knuckler past Vasilevskiy.

Coming a little over three minutes after the Lightning had scored, it was a huge response, not allowing Tampa to build any confidence with a lead.

The Kids Line had a fabulous game again and it was Kaapo Kakko who scored the go ahead goal on a fantastic pass from Adam Fox. Fox threaded the needle with the pass to Kakko who was unchecked next to the slot and the Finn put it home, chipping it over the outstretched Tampa netminder.

It was his first goal since the second game of the First Rounds.

The second period was scoreless with the Rangers dominating play. They hit three posts and controlled play with five high danger scoring chances.  Corey Perry saved a goal, sweeping the puck into Vasilevskiy before it crossed the goal line.

With all of the scoring chances thwarted, there was a sense that the Rangers inability to put the game away would come back to haunt them.

That was solved just 1:21 into the third period when Mika Zibanejad beat Vasilevskiy with a shot over the blocker on a nice pass from Adam Fox after an egregious giveaway in center ice by Kucherov.

The Rangers had  two goal lead and there was bedlam at the Garden.

Tampa could muster very little offense until they pulled Andrei Vasilevskiy with about four minutes left and two minutes later, Nick Paul was able to score.

That left the Rangers desperately protecting a one goal lead for 122 seconds with Igor Shesterkin holding fast.  The Ranger netminder did his best work in the last two minutes of the game.

Here is a full video recap of the game.