TAMPA, Florida. The Lightning play a dynamic north-south game that many other NHL teams simply can’t keep up with, but the Rangers have proven they can all season.
In many ways, the Rangers went head-to-head with the two-time Stanley Cup champions. And despite a rare lack of powerplay, there was still a clutch when Mika Zibanejad blew a throwaway late in the third period to give the Rangers a 2-1 win on Saturday night at the Amalia Arena.
“We played the way we wanted to and I think we find our game and everyone loves it,” head coach Gerard Gallant said after the victory that ended the Lightning’s three-game streak this season in front of a bunch of fans in red, white and blue, whose pro-ranger chants drowned out everything else. “Today was another battle again, a playoff style game.
“The power play was a little ineffective until the game-winning goal was scored at the end, so it worked when it needed to.”
Powerplay for the Rangers was a vital part of their offense for much of the season, so going 0-for-5 over two spells was unusual. But when the Lightning’s Eric Cernak caught Chris Kreider with a high stick at 17:45 of the final frame, the Rangers didn’t miss their sixth chance.
Jacob Truba receives a hug from Philip Chitil after scoring a goal in the Rangers’ 2-1 victory over the Lightning. NHLI via Getty Images
Artemy Panarin’s pass across the ice brought Zibanejad into his middle from the left faceoff circle, giving the Rangers their first lead of the match with 16 seconds left in normal time. Micah March went further.
“It’s one game,” Zibanejad said of the powerplay. “When you fail at something, there is a tendency to overwork a little. Try to do too much, you want it so much. Perhaps that was the case today, and we complicated the situation a little, including myself.
“But in the end, we pulled through and won the game.”
The Rangers managed a one-goal equalizer at 9:25 of the second period behind Jacob Truba’s 10th goal of the season, making him a career high and leading all Rangers defensemen in scoring. Tampa Bay disputed the goaltender’s interference, but the claim was upheld.
Lightning winger Pat Maroon went too far when he collided with Rangers star goaltender Igor Shesterkin outside the Blueshirts. Ryan Lindgren was outraged and went after Maroon, who landed several nasty uppercuts before receiving an interference penalty and then a corresponding penalty for rudeness to the Rangers defenseman.
Ryan Reeves later passed on the aftermath to Maroon early in the third period, playing the enforcer role he took on when he joined the Rangers this offseason. The two dropped their gloves and Reeves landed several punches before exchanging heated words with Maroon.
“I think the confidence is that now that we’ve played two games, we’ve had a pretty consistent performance from our entire roster,” Truba said. “There are no passengers and I think we feel better because we build our game that way. We play good teams, we play well, Igor plays great, we don’t miss a lot of chances – we miss some – but it will happen.
“Find ways to win, and that’s the most important thing.”
In the middle of a tough weekend, the Rangers may have topped the first powerful club on the schedule. On Sunday in Raleigh, North Carolina, they will face another force, a completely different beast, the Hurricanes. The Rangers haven’t beaten the Carolinas this season and will play the Hurricanes two more times before the end of the regular season.
The Rangers still have a lot to prove.