As Rangers fans should all know by now, it can never be easy and no matter how you slice it, sweeping the back to back defending champs would not have been an easy task. As a result, the Rangers dropped game three in the final minute after an all around lazy effort with costly penalties. Certainly a frustrating loss despite the fact that it wasn’t a great effort from the Rangers. Any time it comes down to a one goal game you feel it to be a winnable game, especially when it’s tied up til the final minute. Had the Rangers been able to hold on for another 50 seconds, anything could happen in overtime but alas, they gave one up and allowed the Bolts to win their first game of the series.
The game got off to a bit of a slow start but would end up being a much busier opening period in the shots on goal department. The Rangers have the tendency to struggle with getting pucks on net in the early stages. Especially in this series, shots have been a bit on the low side from both teams in opening periods. Nevertheless, that would not be the case in this outing, as the Lightning out-shot the Blueshirts 15-12, making for a very active period for both goalies. Without a doubt, Andrei Vasilevskiy would have his best game of the series, stopping 30 shots as Igor Shesterkin answered 52 through 60 minutes of play. Exactly the kind of showing we were expecting from the battle of the league’s best tenders.
To the second we went and to the penalties we got, as the officials did not hesitate to put an arm in the air and a blow to the whistle. The Rangers had one lone power play opportunity in the first period off a Nikita Kucherov high stick but failed to get much generated on the man advantage. About five minutes in, Ross Colton cross checked Ryan Lindgren to which Lindgren went after Colton, sending both of them off for coincidental minors. After about 15 seconds of 4 on 4 play, Mika Zibanejad got called for an unfortunate interference call to give the Bolts a 4-on-3 man advantage. I say unfortunate interference because by definition, it was an interference penalty but in that situation, there really wasn’t much else Mika could do in the moment.
Shortly after that 4-on-3, the Rangers would get back to back power play chances from two penalties drawn by Igor Shesterkin which the Rangers would capitalize on both of them. The first came from Mika Zibanejad’s signature power play special, a slapper from the left side. The second would be Chris Kreider’s signature power play special, garbage goals in front of the net. All of a sudden, the Rangers had a 2-0 lead in a game that would give them a significant advantage in the series. Sure enough, the penalties kept coming and the lead would be cut in half as Nikita Kucherov let a shot go on the power play that Igor didn’t stand a chance on. This would be penalty number one from Jacob Trouba on the evening.
Aside from penalties, the big headline to come from the second period, much to the Rangers disadvantage, was the injury to Ryan Strome. Strome took a cross check to the back near center ice but upon the play seemed to grab his leg? He would wobble to the Rangers bench and head straight to the locker room in a fairly great deal of distress. Eventually, he returned for a shift but immediately looked down to the Rangers training staff and shook his head, indicating that he couldn’t play through it. A very strange play and I’m certainly not a doctor so I can’t really say what the injury could be. To this point, there haven’t been any updates or indications on what the potential timetable could be if he is to miss some time.
The third period begins and Jacob Trouba wastes no time getting back in the penalty box, as he gets called for holding Anthony Cirelli. Penalty number two on the evening for Troubs. The longer the game went on, the less involved the Rangers were. It wasn’t a total wash, the power play was obviously working as both of their goals came on man advantages, the Kid Line had a couple good shifts early in the first period, Barclay Goodrow showed us why we’re paying him for the next five seasons but for the most part, the Rangers played very lazily. The Rangers penalty killers could not keep up with the Bolts power play unit and less than a minute and a half into the third, Steven Stamkos did his best Mika impression and tied the game up at two. As if the injury to Ryan Strome wasn’t bad enough, Barclay Goodrow, who already missed time with a fractured ankle in these playoffs, took another slap shot off the ankle that left him struggling to get off the ice. Miraculously, he somehow managed not to miss a shift which goes to show how much of a warrior he is.
The Rangers penalty killers would get another crack at killing off a Lightning power play as Frank Vatrano would go off for yet another goaltender interference call. Look, I understand that you can’t run the goalie, I get that nine out of ten times the officials are going to side with the goalie, but what in the world is Vatrano supposed to do in that situation? He’s going hard to the net and gets knocked into Vasilevskiy, there really isn’t much he can do there. If anything, blow the whistle on the play and drop the puck in the Rangers zone, don’t give the guy a penalty for getting hit and not being able to control where he falls. The Rangers kill this one off and keep the game tied and approach a huge opportunity to take the game back.
Nikita Kucherov takes his second stick infraction penalty of the night just shy of the midway point of the third. Blood was drawn from Mika Zibanejad, Rangers would have a four minute man advantage to take this game back. Welp, that wouldn’t last long. After the first minute of the power play, Alex Killorn beat the Rangers defender and had a chance to rush the puck out on his own. Which Rangers defender was it? Jacob Trouba, completing the hat trick, taking a God awful penalty to eliminate the Rangers lengthy power play. Look, Jacob Trouba is arguably one of the most important members of this team but it’s pretty cut and dry. You can NOT be taking lazy penalties this deep in the playoffs, ESPECIALLY on a power play in a game as pivotal as this one, ESPECIALLY when you are one of the veteran leaders on this team.
At the end of the day, it’s one bad game and you know darn well that Trouba will hold himself accountable and come back better on Tuesday night as game three will be one he wants to forget about immediately. Play continued for the rest of the period and for a minute, it seemed like we would go to overtime. Until that final minute of course. The Lightning were the better team in this game and it shouldn’t be much of a surprise. It was their first home game of the series and they have fallen down 2-0, they needed the win and they played accordingly. Ondrej Palat snapped one to the back of the net with 42 seconds to go in the game. Not much time for the Rangers to attempt the comeback but their lone chances would be bested by a bouncing puck that ended up getting cleared, giving the Lightning the win to cut the Rangers series lead in half.
Game three will absolutely be a tough pill to swallow but the Rangers did a great job in the first two games to build themselves a bit of a cushion. While it will be all the more integral that they take game four as to avoid losing their lead in the series, the Rangers should still feel pretty good about themselves as long as they come ready to play on Tuesday. You have to hope that Goodrow remains good to go and that whatever Ryan Strome is dealing with isn’t anything serious. More on that sure to come but until then, regroup from game three and be ready to get the next one.
Chris Feldman
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