First Period:
- Mika Zibanejad (16) Unassisted
Second Period:
Third Period:
Ad
- Brayden Point (20) fAssists: Steven Stamkos (23), Nikita Kucherov (38)
Overtime:
Shootout:
- Steven Stamkos: Missed
- Vincent Trocheck: Stopped
- Brayden Point: Scores
- Mika Zibanejad: Stopped
- Nikita Kucherov: Stopped
- Artemi Panarin: Scores
- Ross Colton: Stopped
- Kaapo Kakko: Stopped
- Nick Paul: Stopped
- Filip Chytil: Stopped
- Alex Killorn: Scores
- Adam Fox: Stopped
Stats:
- This was a better performance than Tuesday and overall it was a pretty even game between the Rangers and Tampa.
- Both goalies were terrific, but the Rangers also missed the net 19 times and a bunch of those net misses were on high quality/PP chances.
- I know they are playing the Lightning and, more specifically, Andrei Vasilevskiy, but the Rangers have to score on that 4-on-3 in OT. They had some chances, but they missed the net, they seemed out of sync and they couldn’t get Mika Zibanejad open for his shot. Artemi Panarin was shooting the puck, but he had as many that missed the net (4) than he had on goal (4).
- I thought that the new lines were fine and I hope, with one exception, that they stay the same. That one exception is getting Alexis Lafreniere back in somewhere. Maybe they throw him back on the right side and try him again with Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck or shift Kaapo Kakko to that line and put Lafreniere with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider.
- Vitali Kravtsov had a strong game and looked maybe the best he has since that 20 game stretch he had a couple of years ago. Hopefully, he can show something consistently that the Rangers can either use or use to showcase him to upgrade at the deadline.
- The Rangers fall to sixth in the Metro, tied with the Isles and Penguins, but the Pens have two games in hand and the Isles have the tiebreaker….but they are also only two points out of second place. There is still more than half a season to go, but regulation wins are going to become a lot more important as they are three back of those from the Isles.
- Gerard Gallant has seemed to be a lot more direct and pointed with his comments lately, both about the team and certain players, and I wonder if he is either starting to feel pressure or if he thinks that this team needs a bit of a stern direction right now. He’s right when he says that the Rangers are better and can be better than what they’ve shown so far and it’s on him to figure out how to get that done….otherwise it will probably be someone else’s responsibility next season.
- Again, this was better than Tuesday and their effort and overall play was more in-line of what we had seen the prior few weeks. If they can get the PP back on track than they are more than likely to pull two points out of a game like tonight than one.
- This was their last game of 2022, the year where the Rangers returned to the playoffs and made a run to the Conference Finals. The first half of 2022 was better than the second half that they just finished, but compared to the last few years, 2022 was a pretty great year for the Rangers.
- They open 2023 with four games in the first week: Florida on Sunday, their first meeting with Carolina on Tuesday, Montreal next Thursday and then the Devils next Saturday.