Rangers misery continues with 6-2 loss to Lightning after holiday break

Apparently the re-set coach Peter Laviolette referred to Friday wasn’t the cure all the New York Rangers sought on Saturday. Instead of a much-needed win, the Rangers were rocked by the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2 in their first game back from the NHL holiday break.

The Rangers (16-18-1) never led and were undone by poor special teams play. They allowed two power-play goals and two short-handed goals, and goalie Igor Shesterkin was pulled for the second time in his past five starts.

New York has lost three straight games and six of their past seven. The Rangers are a miserable 4-14-0 in their past 18 games. In those 14 defeats, they’ve been outscored 59-23.

Brayden Point had two goals and one assist, and Nikita Kucherov had one goal and two assists for the Lightning (20-11-2), who’ve won eight of their past 10 games. Ryan McDonagh, Anthony Cirelli and Nick Paul also scored and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 42 saves in the win.

Shesterkin was pulled in the second period after he allowed five goals on 13 shots. Jonathan Quick finished up and allowed one goal on 12 shots.

Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck scored for the Rangers, who now have sole possession of last place in the Metropolitan Division after the Islanders defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3 on Saturday.

Tampa Bay Lightning 6 – New York Rangers 

As has happened so often during their current funk, the Rangers surrendered the first goal Saturday, and again did so within the first few minutes of play. Kucherov scored a power-play goal with Sam Carrick in the penalty box for the first of three times in the game to make it 1-0 Lightning at 2:27.

Point flew past K’Andre Miller on right wing to create a 2-on-1 and the Lightning forward saucered a perfect pass on to Kucherov’s stick for the game-opening goal. It was a rough start for Miller, who returned after missing the past six games with an upper-body injury.

Despite the early deficit, the Rangers took the game to the Lightning at even strength. They were rewarded at 9:23 of the first period, when Panarin scored his 16th goal of the season and first in eight games to tie it up 1-1 with a shot from the low slot.

It was one of many good things the Rangers did 5v5 in the first period. They out-shot the Lightning 15-3, out-chanced them 13-2 and had an xGF of 0.73 5v5 in the first period, per Natural Stat Trick. Unfortunately for the Rangers, the entire period was not contested at even strength.

So, after allowing Kucherov’s power-play goal early in the period, the Rangers then gave up a short-handed goal to McDonagh at 18:11 and trailed 2-1 at the first intermission. McDonagh’s first goal of the season was scored off the rush, a shot that somehow leaked through Shesterkin.

The game got away from the Rangers early in the second period, when they allowed three goals in a span of 4:33 to fall behind 5-1. Point snuck a backhand shot past Shesterkin at 3:35 to start Tampa Bay’s roll.

Less than two minutes later, the Lightning scored another short-handed goal — their seventh of the season — to make it 4-1. Mika Zibanejad fanned on a one-timer from the left circle, the puck caromed off his skate and Brandon Hagel collected it and took off the other way on a 2-on-1. Hagel dished to Cirelli at the left post, and the Lightning forward buried his 14th goal, second short-handed, at 5:02.

On the Rangers next power play, Zibanejad was replaced on the top unit by Alexis Lafreniere. It’s just the latest fall from grace for the Rangers center, whose pointless streak extended to seven games Saturday.

The Lightning made it 5-1 at 8:08, when Kucherov’s centering feed deflected off Point’s skate and then Shesterkin’s pad before crossing the goal line. Tampa Bay’s second power-play goal of the night again was scored with Carrick in the box.

That goal ended Shesterkin’s night. Laviolette sent Quick over the boards to replace the No. 1 netminder after he allowed five goals on 13 shots in 28:08.

“It’s obviously tough when we feel like we’re doing a lot of good things and then pretty quickly the score gets out of hand a little bit. It’s a tough one to assess,” Zibanejad said postgame. “I thought the effort was there. It’s just special teams, both ways, honestly.”

The Rangers showed more jump in the third period, when the fired 19 shots at Vasilevskiy. Trocheck scored New York’s fifth shortie of the season just 13 seconds into the final period to give the Rangers life. Shortly thereafter Reilly Smith made a neat move on right wing and a shot off the far post. Vasilevskiy had to scramble to make a couple other saves.

But the Lightning settled down and finished off the Rangers, when Paul buried his own rebound from the slot at 14:12 to make it 6-2. It was the fifth time in the past six games the Rangers scored two goals or fewer.

Next up, the Rangers will try to regain their footing when they visit the Florida Panthers on Monday in their final game of calendar year 2024.