Recap: Rangers 3, Lightning 1

Steven Stamkos scored the lone goal for the Lightning in a 3-1 Opening Night defeat to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.

Special teams proved to be the deciding factor, with New York firmly dominating that aspect of the game. Although Tampa Bay’s lone goal came with the man advantage, the Lightning’s power play finished the night 1-for-6 and surrendered a shorthanded goal. New York’s power play unit was 1-for-4 and generated 14 shots on goal.

Mika Zibanejad led the way for the Rangers with their first two goals and former Bolt Barclay Goodrow provided an insurance tally with nine minutes remaining to round out the scoring.  

Andrei Vasilevskiy gets saddled with the loss despite stopping 36 of the 39 shots the Rangers fired his way.

Tampa Bay continues its season-opening road trip on Friday night against the Blue Jackets in Columbus.

Scoring Summary1st PeriodNo Scoring

2nd PeriodNYR 1, TBL 03:25 Mika Zibanejad (1) – Jacob Trouba, K’Andre Miller – SHGThe Rangers struck first with a shorthanded goal early in the second period. A sloppy Lightning line change gave New York an odd man rush from the blue line in. Mika Zibanejad skated the puck down low himself, deked around Andrei Vasilevskiy’s poke check and lifted a backhander into the top corner of the net to stake the hosts to a lead.

NYR 1, TBL 19:09 Steven Stamkos (1) – Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point – PPGTampa Bay was gifted a golden opportunity to equalize when K’Andre Miller and Barclay Goodrow were both whistled for penalties on the same play. Just past the midway point of the two-minute 5-on-3 power play, the Bolts won a faceoff back to Nikita Kucherov, who then teed up Steven Stamkos for a one-timed blast.

3rd PeriodNYR 2, TBL 15:11 Mika Zibanejad (2) – Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider – PPGZibanejad’s second goal of the night put the Rangers back in front for good at 5:11 of the final frame. With New York on a power play, Zibanejad wound up a big one-timer from the top of the left circle that got past Vasilevskiy.

NYR 3, TBL 111:00 Barclay Goodrow (1) – Ryan Lindgren, Ryan CarpenterThe only 5-on-5 goal of the night gave the Rangers some insurance at the midway point of the third period. Barclay Goodrow worked to get positioning in the slot and tipped Ryan Lindgren’s point shot home to double New York’s lead.