Rangers’ sluggish home performance raises alarms with Lightning on same schedule

The New York Rangers registered their eighth shot of the game, and their first in the third period in general, with just 7:40 remaining in the game. That fact says it all for a game in which both teams involved were in the second game of a back to back. The Lightning won the game by a score of 4-1, and also won the shots on goal battle 35-11

Rangers once again fail to deliver required effort on home ice

The Tampa Bay Lightning entered the game on the heels of a 6-3 victory against the Detroit Red Wings. The Rangers took advantage against an injured Boston Bruins squad on Friday, and they were unsuccessful at doing the same in a game where Tampa sat Andrei Vasilevskiy and were without Brayden Point, Victor Hedman, and Ryan McDonagh.

Brandon Hagel was Tampa's best player of the game, and he scored to make it 1-0 near the halfway mark of the first period. He did the same almost around the same time in the second frame and Tampa was in full control with a 2-0 lead.

Adam Fox later sent a shot on goal which went off the skate of J.T. Miller to get the Blueshirts into the game, and the team entered the second intermission facing a tough penalty kill situation. The Rangers succeeded in killing off the penalty, but shortly after Nick Paul scored to make it 3-1 with Nikita Kucherov picking up his third assist of the game.

Fox departs the game in third period after taking Hit from Hagel

Hagel not only impacted the game by scoring the first and second goal of the game, but he knocked the Rangers' MVP of the season to date in the third period.

Hopefully the removal of Fox from the game was precautionary, because the team will be absolutely lost without him. He's had an incredible start to the season for New York, and has registered points in six consecutive games. Offense has been hard to come by for the team, and he's been an integral part of the team's overall attack in addition to being a defensive stalwart.

What's next for the Rangers?

The Blueshirts are off on Sunday and Monday after playing the back to back, and will get a challenge on Tuesday in the form of the Dallas Stars. They will then take on an Ottawa Senators squad which has played pretty well to start the season, and they end the week with a back to back on home ice against the Colorado Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights.