Rangers 30-Year-Old Goaltender Makes History as Blueshirts Crush Lightning in Home Opener
Hockey has officially returned to Madison Square Garden as the 26-27 NHL season has kicked off. After a 3-0 opening-night loss to the Boston Bruins, the New York Rangers sought redemption against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Though Tampa Bay is quite the test for the home opener, the Rangers gave their fans a beautiful night. What was once a night of low expectations after Tuesday turned into chaos as the New York Rangers opened their season at home with a 5-1 win over Tampa Bay, with a touch of history to end it off.
The puck dropped, and the Blueshirts put some pressure on early. With a better-looking start than Tuesday’s game, the Garden came alive early as New York drew first blood. On the power play, who else to get it started than the all-time Rangers leader in power-play goals, Mika Zibanejad. Down 1-0, Tampa Bay looked to respond quickly with a power play of their own, but the Rangers penalty kill remained perfect to start the season. Moments later, New York doubled their lead off a great takeaway by Oliver Bjorkstrand, who set up Pavel Dorofeyev for his first goal as a New York Ranger. You couldn’t ask for a better start, but plenty of hockey remained, and the Lightning kept the pressure on. The final minutes of the period were scary, but New York escaped with a 2-0 lead, despite getting outshot 9-7, heading into the second.
Period number two went off, and the Rangers extended their lead once again. Go to the net and good things will happen: a shot by Eeli Tolvanen deflected off a Tampa Bay skate and into the net to make it 3-0 Blueshirts. It wasn’t long before Tampa Bay finally responded and got on the board off a funny bounce of their own. Nikita Kucherov threw a pass behind the net that deflected off Noah Laba’s skate and past Igor Shesterkin to make it 3-1. As the pressure grew for New York to keep the lead, Igor wasn't gonna let that happen. Suddenly, the pressure evaporated as the Blueshirts made it 4-1. Adam Fox's beautiful pass led to a beautiful deflection by Gabe Perreault, igniting the crowd once again. Looking nowhere near the team on Tuesday, the Rangers ended the second period beating the Lightning 11-10 on shots, leading 4-1 with twenty to go.
The final twenty kicked off with a pair of power plays for both teams, but both teams killed them off quite easily. Tampa Bay soon got its best chance of the night with a five-on-three, leading to a power play with the net empty. No matter how big the man advantage, Shesterkin proved he wasn’t gonna be beaten tonight. Moments later, the Lightning net emptied once again, and history happened at MSG. All alone with the puck, Shesterkin sent the puck across the ice and into the net to make it 5-1 Blueshirts. The first Rangers goaltender to score an NHL goal soon put the exclamation point on tonight's home opener.
Déjà vu went on in Boston, but the same couldn’t be said tonight. After getting thrown around repeatedly on Tuesday, the New York Rangers rebounded with their own physicality, especially from Braden Schneider. The Rangers delivered an all-around great performance, with a little history to end it all. New York gets right back into it tomorrow night against the Detroit Red Wings while Tampa Bay faces the Washington Capitals in their home opener. A night to remember, no doubt; now let's see how Dylan Garand responds to a game like that.
