Recap: Rangers Shutout Lightning 4-0 in Sam Rosen's Final Game

In their final game of the 2024-25 season, the Rangers hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning. While we’re already primed to say good riddance to this disaster of a season, there was one reason to watch tonight's otherwise meaningless contest and that is Sam Rosen. After 40 years of calling games for this team, tonight would be his final call with the New York Rangers. The team paid homage to him by each player warming up in 40 Rosen jersey’s with the “it’s a power play goal” patch on the front. 

Led by Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, possibly for one last night, the Rangers managed to put together a solid 4-0 win for Sam's last game.

1st Period:  

This certainly looked and felt like game 82 of 82. Not a whole lot of anything from either side as the Rangers season was over and the Lightning were gearing up for the playoffs. About six minutes in, the Rangers took the first penalty of the night as he was called for hooking Brandon Hagel in the neutral zone. Tampa pretty much dominated the entirety of the two minute advantage without posing any major scoring chances but nevertheless, the Rangers came out of it unscathed. 

As they approached the midway point of the opening period, the Rangers were again held without a shot on goal as the Lightning had just two themselves. Tampa came close to putting themselves on the board with about six and a half to go as Gage Goncalves hit the post on a partial breakaway. 

With about three minutes left, the Rangers had a 3-on-1 and managed to come out of it without a shot on goal, seeing as they continued to pass the puck around until they had no angle left to shoot. With four total shots on goal in the period, Joe Micheletti was literally begging for them to shoot the puck. 

In the final minute of play, the Rangers took a second penalty as Will Borgen was called for tripping. With only 26 seconds or so to go, the horn would sound as the score remained 0-0 after twenty minutes of incredibly uneventful hockey. Shots were 4-2 in favor of Tampa. Yes, you read that correctly. 

2nd Period:

Just over a minute into the second, Vincent Trocheck picked off a loose puck at the blue line and came in on a quick 2-on-1 chance shorthanded. After a quick back and forth with J.T. Miler, Trocheck snapped one past Jonas Johansson to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead with a shorthanded goal. That goal ties Cecil Dillon for second most shorthanded goals in a season by a Ranger. 

As the period went on, the Rangers began to show some slight flashes of life with Matt Rempe seeing a handful of quality scoring chances in an increased amount of ice time. Igor Shesterkin’s workload increased as well as he had to make a couple of notable saves, including one on a Yanni Gourde one timer.  

With about four minutes to go, the Rangers got their first power play of the night as Erik Cernak was called for interference. That was short lived as Nick Paul stepped on the stick of Kreider which sent him off for tripping just thirteen seconds after the power play started. 

The Rangers held onto the 1-0 lead after forty minutes of play in what became a busier period all things considered. Shots after two were 20-13 in favor of Tampa. Pretty sloppy game from both sides as turnovers and takeaways were aplenty but what can you expect in a game of this caliber? 

3rd Period:

Just over four minutes in, Chris Kreider had a shot blocked in the slot but picked up his own rebound for another hard wrist shot that appeared to go in but wasn’t called a goal by the officials initially. After a quick review, it was ruled a goal and the Rangers had a 2-0 lead. A big one for the Rangers longest tenured player in what could potentially become his last game as  Ranger as his future with the team is up in the air. 

To make matters more emotional, it appeared that Will Cuylle went right to the net to grab the puck. 

With close to seven minutes to go in the game, just as Joe was offering Sam a heartfelt thank you for everything, Mika Zibanejad interrupted with a classic Mika one timer off the face-off to make it a 3-0 game. K'Andre Miller with a nice pass to set him up for it.

Just about four minutes later, Mika deflected in a shot from Kreider for his second of the night, twentieth of the season to make it a 4-0 game.

As time continued to tick down, it was all about cherishing every second left with Sam Rosen. He and Joe continued to thank each other, the fans, and everyone involved in what's become a true legacy of a career for one of the best to ever do their job.

And with that, another season has come and gone as the Rangers finish with a record of 39-36-7 thanks to this final 4-0 win. It certainly hasn’t been the kind of season any of us hoped for. Frankly, one of the biggest disappointments, arguably of all time but alas, we can now turn the page and hopefully move on to something, hopefully much better next season. 

On a personal note, this is the second full season I’ve been a part of Blueshirt Banter and for as unfortunate as this season has been, it’s been an honor to cover this team each and every night. As always, thank you all for tuning in to these recaps and everything else we have going on here. It’s going to be a long offseason but we’ll have you covered all summer long.

Thank you all, and again,

Thank you Sam Rosen.