NEW YORK, N.Y. — The New York Rangers defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1 in the home opener on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers collected their first win of the season after losing the season opener against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.
The first action of the game came in front of the Lightning net about five minutes in, as J.J. Moser was called for holding the stick of Gabe Perreault, giving NYR a chance on the power play.
New York was able to capitalize as Pavel Dorofeyev ripped the puck off the crossbar, which ricocheted straight to Mika Zibanejad for the one-timer to give NYR a 1-0 lead and the team’s first goal of the season.
About five minutes after the Rangers took the lead, Braden Schneider was called for holding to put the Lightning on the power play.
The Rangers were able to kill the penalty and had a chance of their own up the ice. It was a 2-on-1 for the Rangers as Oliver Bjorkstrand delivered a crisp pass to Pavel Dorofeyev, who fired the puck through the pads of Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy to give New York a 2-0 lead.
At the 13:31 mark of the first period, Will Cuylle was called for holding, putting Tampa Bay back on the power play. It was the third holding call of the first period.
The Rangers stayed clean shorthanded as they were able to keep their two-goal lead through the penalty.
The first period ended with the Rangers up 2-0, though Igor Shesterkin was forced to come up big a few times to keep the game in the Blueshirts’ favor.
They say “get to the net” for a reason, and that reason came early in the second period as Will Cuylle powered his way to the net, which allowed Eeli Tolvanen to throw the puck into the crease. The puck ended up in the net with multiple bodies in front to give NYR a 3-0 lead. Tolvanen was credited with the goal.
With 12 minutes to play in the second period, Noah Laba accidentally redirected the puck into the NYR net after attempting to block a shot in front. Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov was credited with the goal.
The momentum started to sway in Tampa’s favor as Rangers captain J.T. Miller was assessed a hooking penalty at the 12:51 of the second period, giving the Bolts their third power play of the game.
NYR stayed perfect on the penalty kill and quickly scored as Gabe Perreault was wide open in front to tip the puck in and give the Blueshirts a 4-1 lead.
The Rangers dominated and The Garden had an energy that has not been felt since the 2023-24 Presidents’ Trophy winning season.
Just as the third period began, J.T. Miller was assessed another holding penalty, and Tampa Bay was back on the power play.
The penalties just kept coming as, after NYR killed off the Miller call, J.J. Moser went to the box for tripping, and the Rangers went back on their own man advantage.
It came to a point where penalties just became an excuse for a commercial break as Tampa Bay went back to the power play at 9:04 of the period when Adam Fox went to the box for tripping.
Tampa Bay’s play with the extra man was somewhat horrendous as they once again failed to convert with the extra man. But they were given another chance as Noah Laba went to the sin bin for dumping the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty.
Rangers fans were letting Vasilevskiy hear it, as a loud “Igor’s better!” chant rang from the crowd.
It was a storybook ending to the night for the Rangers when Igor Shesterkin shot the puck down the ice and into the empty net as time expired. It was the first goalie goal in New York Rangers history.
The season is young, but after the game against the Bruins, this was certainly a statement win against a Tampa Bay Lightning team that is one of the early favorites to win the Stanley Cup.
The Rangers’ next game will take place on Sunday against the Utah Mammoth at Madison Square Garden. Puck drop is scheduled for 6 p.m.
