Rangers ripped by rival Lightning in potential playoff preview
TAMPA, Fla. — The potential playoff preview that was this final regular-season matchup between the Rangers and Lightning was as entertaining as it gets.
And if the season ended Thursday night, there would possibly be seven more on the horizon.
In an empty-net goal abetted 6-3 loss at Amalie Arena, the Rangers, who were denied a bid to the Stanley Cup Final by the Lightning just two seasons ago, were reminded that they will not only have their hands full if they do meet Tampa Bay in the first round but it will take their absolute best if they hope to advance.
Both teams may not have been at full strength, but both teams played full tilt with their own respective relentless stretches.
It was the best-on-best in goal, with the Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin versus the Lightning’s Andrei Vasilevskiy.
The star power was on full display. There was clear animosity. It came down to the third period.
“Didn’t come out strong,” Jimmy Vesey said of the final frame. “We weren’t happy with the last 10 minutes of the second and needed a push to start the third. We got the goal, but after that, I didn’t think we had enough sustained time in there.
“Kind of a good lesson for us going forward here. The playoff games have a lot of momentum swings and we’ve got to learn to manage that.”
After Jack Roslovic scored his first goal as a Ranger to break a 2-2 tie less than two minutes into the final frame, the Lightning scored four unanswered to secure their first win over the Rangers of the regular season.
Tampa Bay’s star players took over the game and the Blueshirts only countered with self-inflicted mistakes.
Brayden Point, who evened the score at three-all, led the way for the Lightning with a hat trick and an eye-popping six-point effort, while Nikita Kucherov posted a five-point night.
Captain Steven Stamkos also netted the game-winner with the lone power-play goal of the contest to help give Tampa Bay a four-point cushion on the Islanders in the East’s first wild-card spot.
“They’ve got a couple really dangerous players on the other side and they hurt us,” head coach Peter Laviolette said.
In spite of building a 2-0 lead with a strong opening period, the Rangers slipped significantly in the second after losing Mika Zibanejad with just over 8 ½ minutes remaining before the second intermission.
Zibanejad took a puck to the face on a sequence in the corner that sent the Swedish center rushing to the locker room while holding his mouth. He missed the remainder of the second period, but Zibanejad returned for the start of the final frame wearing a full face shield.
Tampa Bay tilted the ice in its favor, generating significant zone time and contesting on puck battles that the Rangers largely won through the first 20 minutes. The brief loss of Zibanejad clearly messed with the flow of the Rangers’ game.
It only spiraled from there, with a Jonny Brodzinski turnover igniting the Lightning’s push.
Blowing an early 2-0 lead to the Lightning had shades of the 2022 playoffs to it.
The Rangers fumbled a two-game lead over them in that Eastern Conference Final, too, giving up a 2-0 edge in Game 3 en route to four straight losses.
This matchup could end up being the ultimate hurdle for the Rangers, who still need to learn how to put Tampa Bay away two years later.
“To be honest, I thought they had a lot of trouble with us through 30 minutes,” Vesey said. “We kind of started turning some pucks over and feeding their transition and their high-end guys made a couple plays. I just thought the turnovers at the end of the second is where the momentum started to turn.”
