Recap: When It Rains, It Pours as Rangers Fall 6-2 in Tampa

After a lengthy break for the holidays, the Rangers looked to come into their return to action in Tampa refreshed and motivated to put the past behind them. With that, there was some optimism led by K’Andre Miller’s return from the injured reserve list, but once again, it wasn’t enough. A strong start was silenced by a late period goal from a former friend that sparked a downpour of goals against that led to the Rangers’ third consecutive loss. 

1st Period:. 

After a decent start to the game, Sam Carrick took a careless tripping penalty in the defensive zone to send the Lightning to the power play less than two minutes into the game. After Jake Guentzal nearly buried a redirect in front of the net, a give and go from Nikita Kucherov sent Brayden Point flying by K’Andre Miller as he went right back to Kucherov who was wide open back door to fire the puck into the back of the net. 1-0 Tampa. 

While it was otherwise a mainly uneventful first half of the period, the Rangers were playing better, taking more shots and spending time in the offensive zone. On top of that, they were able to keep Tampa to just two shots on goal through the first nine minutes of the period. Around that time, their efforts would be rewarded with a strong shift from the Panarin line. 

Adam Fox passed it down low to Vincent Trocheck who walked behind Tampa’s net as Artemi Panarin cut right to the slot. Trocheck’s pass found Panarin perfectly, allowing him to sneak a quick shot past Vailevskiy to tie the game up, 1-1. 

The Rangers coaching staff has been using the whole accountability tactic loosely leading up to the break. Alas, Sam Carrick who took that bad penalty earlier in the period would not see a shift again until there was roughly five minutes left in the opening period. With just under three minutes to go, Erik Cernak was called for hooking to give the Rangers their first power play of the night at quite an opportune time. 

Mika Zibanejad had as good a chance as you could ask for early on the power play but his stick broke on the shot which pretty much killed the momentum right off the bat. After a minute of struggling to generate consistent pressure, the Lightning took the puck the other way on a serious odd-man rush. Ryan McDonagh, of all people, walked in a hard wrister that gave Shesterkin some trouble to find the back of the net for his first goal of the season. Because of course it was. 

Despite an all around better showing, the Rangers still found themselves trailing on the score board heading into another intermission. Shots through the first twenty minutes were 17-6 in favor of the Rangers who were out-chancing the Bolts at full strength 12-2 with high danger chances also in their favor 4-1. On the bright side, they were playing well at full strength but now it seems their strengths have flipped as they can’t catch a break on special teams. 

2nd Period:

Following a shaky start to the second, the Lightning were able to get their top line out against the Rangers fourth line with Will Borgen and K’Andre Miller on defense. A defensive zone breakdown from the Rangers once again allowed for one of Tampa’s top player’s to be given too much time and space as Kucherov found Brayden Point to make it a 3-1 game. 

Soon after the goal, the Lightning were caught with too-many men on the ice which gave the Rangers their second power play of the evening. Right off the face-off, the Rangers were moving the puck well. A one-time attempt for Mika Zibanejad was blocked by a defender and sent the Lightning on yet another shorthanded odd-man rush. Braden Hagel dished it over to Anthony Cirelli for an easy goal, 4-1 game. You can’t make this stuff up, just another truly brutal break for Mika Zibanejad. 

About two minutes after the goal, a hit from Zemgus Girgensons simultaneous with the whistle prompted a reaction from Sam Carrick. Girgensons did the smart thing and didn’t react which called for Carrick getting the only penalty on the play. Less than 30 seconds later, Brayden Point deflected a shot in the slot past Shesterkin to make it a 5-1 game. This put an end to Shesterkin’s night as it likely would Carrick’s as Jonathan Quick came in to relieve Shesterkin of netminding duties for the evening.  

At the midway point of the period, Gage Goncalves tripped Filip Chytil up in the neutral zone which gave the Rangers another crack at the power play. Third times the charm right? Meanwhile, Zibanejad was finally taken off the top unit in place of Alexis Lafrenière. Something I’ve been preaching for, for close to a full year now. 

Third time was the charm in the sense that the Rangers successfully managed not to give up a shorthanded goal which was a first in this game. However, they couldn’t convert which came as a major shortcoming in a game that was already filled with those. 

With a minute to go in the period, the whistle blew for Sam Carrick who was surprisingly still getting ice time, to go off to the penalty box for a third time as he cross-checked Luke Glendening from behind. A dominant 60 seconds preceded the second period buzzer as the Rangers headed into the second intermission with quite a mountain to climb. 

Shots were now 25-18 in favor of the Rangers after two. Special teams were without question one of their bigger downfalls but their inability to respond to adversity they way they needed to was just incredibly defeating. The highlight of the period was undoubtedly Sam and Joe talking about wine for several minutes of the broadcast. 

3rd Period:

How about a short handed goal asked Joe Micheletti on the broadcast as the Rangers headed into the final period of regulation. Sure enough, just thirteen seconds into the period, Trocheck had an odd-man rush with Reilly Smith but opted for the shot which beat Vasilevskiy to make it a 5-2 game. 

While that was a good spark for the Rangers, it didn’t amount to much through the first half of the period. Nearing the midway point, K’Andre Miller took down a Lightning player behind the Rangers net which led to Brandon Hagel giving Miller a heart shove. That prompted Will Borgen to deliver a cross check from behind which prompted some additional fire but resulted in a 5-on-3 opportunity for Tampa as Borgen got the only penalty. 

About a minute and a half later, Victor Hedman tripped Reilly Smith which brought play to 4-on-4 and eventually gave the Rangers a 75 second power play. During which, they had some really great looks but Vasilevskiy was there to shut them down. It was already a long shot for the Rangers to come back in this one but not scoring on that stretch pretty much sealed their fate. 

Nick Paul made it a 6-2 game with about six minutes to go and that was that. Third loss in a row for the Rangers who now fall to 4-14-0 in their last 18 games. It’s clear that not even the magic of the holidays can save this team as you have to wonder if Peter Laviolette just coached his last game in New York. The Rangers are off tomorrow before they run it back on Monday with the team that arguably started their downfall this season, the Florida Panthers.