Rangers can’t solve Andrei Vasilevskiy in 5-1 loss to Lightning as playoff hopes fade
Playing with urgency and desperation, the New York Rangers pumped 40 shots on goal against Andrei Vasilevskiy and the Tampa Bay Lightning at Madison Square Garden on Monday night. But the Rangers playoff hopes took a massive hit anyway with a 5-1 loss that left them six points out of a postseason berth with five games left to play.
It was an extremely disheartening defeat because the Rangers by and large dominated play 5v5. Overall they outshot the Lightning 40-23, but Vasilevskiy was simply brilliant in goal for the Lightning, making 39 saves.
Besides Vasilevskiy, the other difference maker was that the Lightning scored three power-play goals against a Rangers penalty kill that is wilting down the stretch. The game got away from the Rangers in the first period when they allowed three goals — two on the power play — in a dizzying span of 1:45.
The Rangers had no answers for Vasilevskiy nor for the Lightning’s three top forwards, who combined for nine points. Brayden Point had two goals and one assist; Nikita Kucherov had one goal and two assists; and Jake Guentzel had three helpers.
Brandon Hagel and Yanni Gourde also scored for the Lightning (45-26-6), who are two points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for first place in the Atlantic Division.
Mika Zibanejad scored a second-period power-play goal for the Rangers (36-34-7), who are six points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. Igor Shesterkin made 18 saves.
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Tampa Bay Lightning 5 – New York Rangers 1
The Rangers came out flying Monday, but after running out to an 11-1 shots advantage and failing to score, they had a major meltdown and the Lightning struck in rapid succession to score three quick goals.
Perhaps the warning sign that the tide was about to turn came at 12:41 when Hagel wired a short-handed shot off the post. Chris Kreider was assessed a hooking penalty on the play and the Lightning went to work.
Shortly after Oliver Bjorkstrand came out of the penalty box and the Lightning went on a 5-on-4 advantage, they took a 1-0 lead. Kucherov got behind Will Cuylle to redirect a Point pass off the rush into the net for a power-play goal at 13:09.
Seizing momentum, the Lightning scored again, just 36 seconds later. Gourde slipped away from Carson Soucy in front to collect the puck after Gage Goncalves’ shot was partially blocked. Falling to the ice, Gourde whipped a backhand shot past a diving Shesterkin and it was 2-0.
The goal was Gourde’s first in 16 games since the Lightning re-acquired him ahead of the trade deadline in a deal with the Seattle Kraken.
The visitors’ onslaught continued. Sam Carrick took a cross-checking penalty at 13:54, and one minute later it was 3-0 Lightning. Point won a battle with Vincent Trocheck and pushed the puck over the goal line just inside the post at 14:54 for his 40th goal of the season.
It’s Point’s third straight 40+ goal season and the fourth of his career. Kucherov picked up his 80th assist for dishing the puck to Guentzel, before the forward zipped a pass across the crease to Point. Kucherov now has 80 assists three seasons in a row, joining Wayne Gretzky, Paul Coffey and Bobby Orr as the only NHL players to do so.
Three Lightning goals in a span of 1:45 turned the game on its ear, and completely negated the Rangers fast start.
To their credit, the Rangers came out strong in the second period and, this time, outplayed the Lightning for the entire period. Yet they scored only one goal, a power-play tally by Zibanejad, when the puck deflected in off his skate at 3:16.
There were a slew of Grade-A looks for the Rangers, including on another power play late in the period, when Artemi Panarin had three prime opportunities denied by a sharp Vasilevskiy. The Lightning goalie also made a big-time save on a deflected shot at the buzzer.
The Rangers out-shot the Lightning 18-5 in the second period. Per Natural Stat Trick, the Rangers had a whopping 88.87 percent expected goals share in all situations during the middle stanza.
But they trailed 3-1 because Vasilevskiy was proving why he’s still one of the best goalies in the world.
The Rangers came close twice to scoring early in the third period. Again, Vasilevskiy came up big. He robbed Alexis Lafreniere in tight with a great glove save, and denied Trocheck shortly thereafter.
Shesterkin had little to do the first half of the period. But midway through, he made a sharp save through an Anthony Cirelli screen and then stoned Cirelli on a bang-bang rebound attempt to keep it 3-1.
Zibanejad came so close to narrowing the deficit to one, when he took off on a short-handed breakaway at 11:37. However, his forehand shot hit off Vasilevskiy’s glove, hit the crossbar and stayed out of the net.
Three minutes later Victor Hedman wired a long shot off the post. Seconds after that, Zibanejad was hit in the mouth by a puck that deflected off Shesterkin’s stick. Zibanejad was bloodied and came off the ice. Shortly after, the Lightning increased their lead to 4-1.
Point was untouched by the left post and buried a quick seam pass by Guentzel for the Lightning’s third power-play goal of the game at 15:40.
The Rangers pulled Shesterkin for the extra attacker but Hagel scored into the empty net to put this game away with 2:42 left on the clock.
With the season slipping away, the Rangers just may have to win out over their final five games to have a chance at earning a playoff spot for the fourth straight season. Their next chance to get two points is Wednesday, when they host the Philadelphia Flyers at MSG.
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