Recap: Rangers Give Up Three Goals in 105 Seconds, Lose 5-1 to Tampa

Another game, another night where the Rangers are boo'd off the ice. Despite a strong start, the Rangers gave up three goals in under two minutes to let yet another important game fall out of reach. Heading into tonight's game, the Rangers were six points out of a playoff spot with a game in hand. Now, with just five games left, they may have blown their final chance at catching Montreal in the standings.

1st Period: 

An extremely Quick start to this one (pun intended, Congrats, Quick!) as the first whistle of the game happened about eight minutes in. The Rangers had the majority of the momentum through the first half of the opening period as they were out-shooting Tampa 7-1. That rekindled fourth line of Othmann - Brodzinski - Rempe was making a noticeable difference from the jump, generating a number of quality chances in the offensive zone. One of which resulted in Brennan Othmann tickling the post with a shot. 

That trio was rewarded with an increased amount of ice time and with nine minutes to go in the period, would help draw the first penalty of the game. As Othmann dished the puck ahead for Adam Fox, Oliver Bjorkstrand was called for tripping as he took down Fox along the half wall. 

The top unit had some of the best looks they’ve had lately but again, failed to execute. As the second unit took to the ice, Braden Hagel had a short handed chance that hit the post but somewhere along the way, Chris Kreider was called for hooking. 16 seconds of 4-on-4 preceded a Tampa Bay power play where Nikita Kucherov was rather quick to convert. Following an odd-man rush led by Fox, Kucherov gave Brayden Point a give-and-go the Rangers failed to defend, 1-0 Lightning. 

Just 36 seconds later, an unfortunate bounce in front allowed for Yanni Gourde to pick up the loose puck and beat Shesterkin with a backhand tuck. 2-0 Lightning. 

Meanwhile, Sam Carrick cross-checked Anthony Cirelli off the face-off which sent Tampa right back to the power play. That would result in a second power play goal as Point banged home a puck at the doorstep after a tic-tac-toc passing effort from the Lightning’s top power play unit, 3-0 game. 

As the period was coming to an end, Alexis Lafrenière was called for a ten minute misconduct following a Rangers icing call. Per John Giannone on the broadcast, it appears that Lafrenière had a verbal altercation with official Chris Rooney earlier in the period. Rooney gave him a vulgar warning and had no patience for whatever Lafrenière said after that icing call. An interesting encounter and something to keep an eye on but frankly, not much mattered at this point. 

Shots at one point in this period were 11-1 Rangers but finished 12-9 with Tampa scoring three goals in what felt like as many seconds. The Rangers had a good start but the fact that the fourth line was the one standing out is probably pretty telling. Things got out of hand quick, would anybody do anything to spark some life back in this building? 

2nd Period:

The Rangers had a decent start as Gabe Perreault made a strong effort on the forecheck to poke the puck in front of Tampa’s net where Sam Carrick was all alone for a chance. Three minutes in, the Rangers went back to the power play as Mika Zibanejad was hooked by Emil Lilleberg. A pass from Artemi Panarin along the boards deflected off the skate of Zibanejad to find the back of the net, 3-1 game but most notably, “It’s a power play goal!” God I’m going to miss Sam. 

Zibanejad’s goal snaps an ice cold streak that has contributed to an atrocious 2-for-46 stretch on the power play. 

All things considered, it was a pretty low event rest of the period. The Rangers were playing much better and controlling the majority of play but with the score staying the same, it’s hard to feel like it mattered much. Braden Schneider had a massive hit on Braden Hagel, that fourth line continued to buzz, the other lines had some moments but Andrei Vasilevskiy wasn’t giving anyone a single inch. 

With under two minutes to go in the period. J.J. Moser slashed and broke the stick of Matt Rempe off the face-off which gave the Rangers a very opportune man advantage. The Rangers were quite dominant with their top unit and generated a number of shots and scoring chances but ran out of time as they couldn’t convert. 

The Rangers out-shot Tampa 18-5 in the second period which was certainly impressive but still had quite the mountain in front of them as they trailed by two. 

3rd Period:

Much of the same to start the third. The Rangers continued to push but in a way that still lacked tenacity save for a brief scrum involving Sam Carrick and even that was borderline lackluster. Alexis Lafrenière had as good of a chance as you could ask for at the doorstep but was shut down by Vasilevskiy. 

The closer this game got to the midway point of the period, the more the wheels were falling off this thing for the Rangers. Every puck they threw Vasilevskiy’s way was stopped with ease. As Joe Micheletti mentioned on the broadcast, you don’t win back-to-back Cups by accident, this is a team that knows how to play a shut down game when they need to and that’s exactly what they were doing. 

Just after the midway point of the third, Will Cuylle was called for holding to send Tampa back to the power play. This led to another sequence that could pretty much sum up the Rangers season in a nutshell. Zibanejad ended up with a shorthanded breakaway that Vasilevskiy got a piece of before the puck bounced over him and off the cross bar to stay just out of the net.

Zibanejad then had a chance in the slot soon after but whiffed on the shot. Shortly after the Rangers killed off the Cuylle penalty, J.T. Miller caught Ryan McDonagh up high with the stick to send his team right back to the penalty kill. During which, Igor Shesterkin deflected a shot with his stick that caught Zibanejad right in the nose leaving him slow to get up.

Once play resumed, it wasn't long before Tampa picked up their third power play goal of the night. Jake Guentzel dished it right to Point back door on a play Shesterkin, nor any goalie, stood a chance on. 4-1 Lightning.

The Rangers pulled Shesterkin with loads of time left on the clock and it wasn't long before Hagel floated one to the empty net to make it 5-1. I don't know what else to say so I will leave you with some hard-hitting words from former Ranger Mike Rupp:

The Rangers are back at it Wednesday Night to take on the Philadelphia Flyers. If you're wondering why you should bother, we'll at least get a taste of nostalgia as Sam Rosen will be joined by his former partner John Davidson in the booth to call the game as he nears his retirement.