Rangers have another strong showing, beat Lightning for 2-0 series lead

The Rangers are two victories away from going to the Stanley Cup Final after holding serve in the first two games in the Eastern Conference Final, stunning the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 in Game 2 on Friday  at Madison Square Garden. 

Goals by youngsters K’Andre Miller and Kaapo Kakko and one by Mika Zibanejad fueled the Rangers’ victory, and gave them a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

The series now shifts to Tampa for Game 3 at  Amalie Arena on Sunday afternoon.

After taking advantage of a rusty Lightning squad in Game 1 Wednesday  — Tampa Bay had not played in eight days following their sweep of the Florida Panthers in the second round — the Rangers expected the Lightning would be much better in Game 2.

Instead, it was the Rangers who were the better team. They peppered Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy for most of the first and second periods, until Tampa Bay found its legs. And then Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin was there to shut the door on them, making 29 saves.

Shesterkin  allowed an extra-skater goal by Nick Paul with 2:02 left in regulation that whittled a 3-1 lead to 3-2, but he made two huge saves on Steven Stamkos in the final minute and the Rangers hung on for the victory.

The Kid Line of Filip Chytil, Alexis Lafreniere and Kakko has caught everyone’s attention.  All of them are under 22.   Those three, plus the 22-year-old Miller and 20-year-old Braden Schneider, have been strong throughout the playoffs. And the question had been raised to coach Gerard Gallant on Thursday if that was a sign of just how good the Rangers’ future could be.

“The future looks real bright for our club, but I’m not looking at the future,’’ he said. “I’m looking at the near future. So keep playing well and give yourself a chance to win every night. And those guys are a big part of it, definitely.’’

Miller and Kakko, who spoke to before the game Friday, were asked if they feel like young guys on the team, or just guys on the team.

“I mean, the young guys are the young guys at the end of the day, I guess,’’ Miller said. “But I don’t think we really look at it like that. We have a lot of older guys that have helped us all out throughout the season. So I think it’s just about showing up and kind of doing your job.’’

Miller’s goal at 5:59 of the first period tied the score at 1-1, after Nikita Kucherov had opened the scoring on a power-play goal at 2:41.

Then Kakko gave the Rangers the lead when he slipped away from his defender and drifted to the back post where Adam Fox found him. Fox faked a shot to get the Lightning defense and goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy paying attention to him, then sent a pass to Kakko, who deflected it in at 17:32 for his second goal of the playoffs.

The Rangers at that point completely took over, and they dominated possession in the second period, outshooting the Lightning 14-3 over the first 14-and-a-half minutes. But Vasilevskiy, who had given up all six goals in the Rangers’ 6-2 win in Game 1, was back to his old self in the period, stopping everything, to keep the Lightning in it.

And then it was Shesterkin’s turn to do his thing as the Lightning had the last seven shots of the period, all of them turned away by Shesterkin.

Finally, the Rangers got the insurance goal they were looking for when Zibanejad beat Vasilevskiy with a wicked wrist shot from the left wing after taking a pass from Fox.

Seconds earlier, Zibanejad and Frank Vatrano had entered the Tampa Bay zone on a two-on-one and Zibanejad passed to Vatrano, whose shot missed the net. The Rangers kept the puck in the zone until Kucherov got it and backhanded it out.

But Kucherov’s clearing attempt was weak and intercepted in the neutral zone by Chris Kreider, who gave it to Fox. Fox entered the zone, passed to Zibanejad, and he whipped a shot past Vasilevskiy’s blocker and inside the near post for his ninth goal of the playoffs, giving the Rangers a 3-1 lead at 1:21.