Raw Charge
Summary
Late in the third period, the New York Rangers faithful cheerfully serenaded their long-time goaltender with “Igor’s Better” chants as Igor Shesterkin thwarted chance after chance by the Tampa Bay Lightning on his way to making 24 saves. He rewarded their efforts and sent them into a bigger frenzy when he scored the first goal by a goaltender in Rangers’ history as the Lightning dropped their season opener, 5-1. The Lightning’s effort was there, but their execution was lacking. Missed passes, blown coverages, turnovers, and bouncing pucks all went against them as they trailed just over five minutes into the game, and never found their footing. One of the big question marks entering the season was their power play, and it betrayed them as they went 0-for-7 with the extra skater. Despite being on the wrong side of a 2-0 score, the first period wasn’t a complete train wreck for the Lightning. Yes, they conceded a power play goal, but that was the result of a broken stick for the Bolts and a lucky bounce off of a post. Mika Zibanejad just happened to be in the right spot to corral the loose puck and swipe it past Vasilevskiy. The Lightning had much more of a direct hand in the second Ranger goal. John Carlson scuffed a shot in the offensive zone, and then whiffed on a chance to knock the puck out of danger in the neutral zone. He was caught flat-footed and unable to stay with an odd-skater rush by Oliver Bjorkstrand who fed Pavel Dorofeyev for the goal. Outside of that, there were some positive moments. The top line skated well, the team as a whole pursued the puck well and caused more than a fair share of turnovers. They just looked like a team playing their first game of the season as they were just a touch off with their passes and reads. They did get some traffic in front of Shesterkin at times, but he wasn’t challenged enough for most of the period. His best save came on a deflection off of the stick of Erik Cernak, who had joined the rush on a play towards the end of the period. Much of the period was played in the Rangers zone as the Lightning racked up 17 scoring chances at 5v5, but credit to the home team for blocking nine shots over the first twenty minutes. The Bolts did have a couple of power plays, but struggled to generate much as New York did a good job of disrupting their entries. Two more goals for the home team highlighted, well lowlighted, a rough second period for the Lightning. Eeli Tolvanen made it 3-0 less than two minutes into the period as the Rangers won a board battle. Tolvanen threw the puck towards a charging Will Cuylle, who made some contact with Vasilevskiy’s pad, but the puck kicked off of Charle-Edouard D’Astous’ skate and rolled into the net. That goal seemed to erode some of the momentum the Lightning had built, and it took some nice saves by Vasilevskiy, especially on Alexis Lafreniere who broke in cleanly on the goaltender. After the Lightning saw a couple of bounces go against them, they benefitted from the puck gods as Nikita Kucherov backhanded a pass to the crease that hit a defenseman’s skate and went past Shesterkin. Ilya Mikheyev picked up his first point as a member of the Lightning with an assist. Unfortunately, another failed power play was amplified when Gabe Perreault made it 4-1 as he deflected a shot-pass from Adam Fox. Unlike the first period where it felt like the Lightning carried much of the play, New York put a lot more pressure on them while shutting off much of the danger from the Lightning offense. After racking up 17 scoring chances at even strength in the first, the Bolts only had 8 in the second With a three-goal lead and just twenty minutes left in the game, the Rangers were content with pushing the Lightning to the perimeter and chipping pucks out of the zone. Meanwhile, credit to Tampa Bay for continuing to force New York to take penalties. They just couldn’t convert with the extra skater, or midway through the period, extra two skaters. Coach Cooper went aggressive with just under 10 minutes to go, pulling Andrei Vasilevskiy for a 6-on-4 advantage. Chances were created (especially with Anthony Cirelli jumping up to the first unit) but no goals came. Eventually, the empty net came into play as Igor Shesterkin scored the first goalie goal in Rangers’ history as he flung the puck the length of the ice to seal the game with 2:34 left to play. It was somewhat fitting that the Lightning finished the game with an unsuccessful power play, bringing their total to seven failed attempts. The Goals Mika Zibanejad (1) [Pavel Dorofeyev, Adam Fox] Power Play, 1-0 Rangers Pavel Dorofeyev (1) [Oliver Bjorkstrand], 2-0 Rangers Eeli Tolvanen (1) [Brandon Schneider, Noah Laba] 3-0 Rangers Nikita Kucherov (1) [Ilya Mikheyev, Brayden Point], 3-1 Rangers Gabe Perreault (1) [Adam Fox, Mika Zibanejad]. 4-1 Rangers Igor Shesterkin (1) [Unassisted], Empty Net, 5-1 Rangers The Numbers Box Score Time on Ice