Well that was the opposite of how most of us thought that game was going to go. For two teams who are comfortably in playoff spots with five games to go, intensity levels were quite high. The Rangers wasted no time getting off to a dominant start which seemed to rub the Lightning the wrong way as things got quite feisty rather quickly. With a combined nine goals and 70 penalty minutes on the night, the Rangers and Lightning certainly gave the fans at the World’s Most Famous an entertaining night.
The night started out on a positive note for Rangers Captain Jacob Trouba as it was announced that he would be the 2022-23 recipient of the second annual Rod Gilbert Mr. Ranger Award. The award that was first distributed last season goes to the Rangers player "who best honors Rod's legacy by exemplifying leadership qualities both on and off the ice, and making a significant humanitarian contribution to his community." Trouba is not only an obvious leader to this team but a significant part of the New York Community as well as The Garden of Dreams Foundation. He and his wife Kelly have their hands in many different charitable organizations and are happy to represent the Rangers any chance they get. A well-deserved recognition for this group's leader who certainly played a huge role in this team’s success this year.
Unfortunately for Trouba, it would be a short night for him as early in the first, he went down hard, face first into the ice. He got up on his own power which was good but not long after returning to the bench would leave for the Rangers locker room and not return for the evening. It was declared an upper-body injury and he is traveling with the team to St. Louis so hopefully it’s nothing serious. Gallant said after the game he was day-to-day which can mean anything from mild soreness to an amputated ligament so it’ll be something to keep an eye on for sure. Another surprise that came closer to puck drop was the news that Patrick Kane would not play and is also now listed as day-to-day. It didn’t appear that there was anything noticeably wrong with him so there’s a good chance it's just extended maintenance but nevertheless, something to keep an eye on down the stretch here.
Kane’s absence led Ben Harpur to remain in the mix for the Blueshirts where he would have quite the night involving two fights, resulting in him stealing the show as he was nothing but smiles, fighting Pat Maroon and asking Corey Perry to hit him at the very end of the game. For what it’s worth, Ben Harpur has really been a great addition to this team. I jokingly said on Twitter that it was he who saved the season instead of Trouba throwing the helmet but honestly, his presence has been crucial, especially when Lindgren went down with injury down the final stretch here. He’s not a standout player by any means, nor is he a perfect solution to an NHL top six defenseman but he’s a great seventh option and has played his role extremely well this year with the Rangers.
Another positive for the Rangers in this one was the power play. While it still had less than a 50% success rate, they capitalized twice, including on their first attempt when Chris Kreider perfectly deflected a Vladimir Tarsenko shot to make it a 1-0 game six minutes in. About a minute and a half later, it was the Kid Line once again as Kaapo Kakko beat Andrei Vasilevskiy blocker side to make it two. Three minutes after that, Tyler Motte found the back of the net on an uncharacteristic goal for the Bolts Vezina caliber netminder to let up as he threw the puck to the net on the half wall to surprise Vasilevskiy to make it 3-0. All signs were pointing to this being all New York but shortly after the third goal, Alexis Lafreniere was called for high sticking which gave Tampa their first power play.
Didn’t take long for them to convert as Alex Killorn tipped one past Shesterkin to show some life on Tampa’s end. Play would continue on and as the period neared its end, Pat Maroon decided to try and create some more energy for the Lightning as he challenged Ben Harpur to a fight. The two went after it in a pretty mild fight but Harpur was the last man standing as he seemed to enjoy himself in their spirited effort. K’Andre Miller would take a penalty that gave the Lightning another power play to start the second. They wouldn’t capitalize on the man advantage but about seven minutes in, Darren Raddysh, former Ranger people forget, brought Tampa within one as he beat Shesterkin for his first of the season. No harm no foul as 25 seconds later, Tyler Motte found the back of the net for his second of the night, making it 4-2 Rangers.
Then the party started. Anthony Cirelli came down on a breakaway that Shesterkin initially saved but left a rebound for Brandon Hagel to push ahead. It appeared Shesterkin had it but because of how far in the net he was, the puck was well past the goal line. Alex Killorn however, decided he better make sure and took an aggressive swipe at the puck in Shesterkin’s possession which was quite unnecessary and naturally led to a bit of a brawl. Ryan Lindgren wasted no time going after Killorn and Cirelli as the three would get sent off to the box for the events that transpired. The Rangers ended up with a power play because of the slash from Killorn but wouldn’t capitalize.
Fight night continued as Vincent Trocheck and Corey Perry squared up with less than four minutes to go in the second. Another spirited battle set the tone for the second where Kreider and Panarin would each add to the Rangers existing lead to make it a 6-3 Blueshirts win. Kreider’s second of the night came as his 35th on the season as he is now two spots ahead of Vic Hadfield on the all time goals list, now in sole possession of fifth place in the franchise. This six goal effort from the Rangers also gives them 41 in their last ten games as they now have the most goals for in the league since March 18th. This team really is heating up at the right time.
Of course the emotions were also heating up as Braden Schneider and Ross Colton went after each other towards the end of the third and just as the buzzer sounded. Corey Perry had another round in him, as did Ben Harpur. Once again, it was Harpur with a huge smile on his face as the refs were attempting to separate the two, visibly asking Perry to hit him. In the event these two teams see each other in the postseason, it will surely be an intense round of hockey but until then, that did it for these two teams this season as the Rangers wrap up their season series two wins to one and will ride off this victory to St. Louis to get right back after it tonight.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens regarding the line up with both Trouba and Kane now being day to day. You would think that if it wasn’t for the damn salary cap the Rangers would call up a handful of guys from Hartford and give several guys the day off but given the circumstances, I don’t believe they will be able to do so. Especially after how intense last night’s game turned out to be, the hope is that this will be a way less eventful night for the Rangers. They are now three points behind New Jersey for second in the Metro so two more points tonight would certainly be ideal but as it cannot be stressed enough, just go through the motions and stay healthy for playoffs. Expect Halak in net and whoever is healthy enough to play tonight to take the ice for New York.
Chris Feldman
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