rangers lightning 2015

Photo by Scott Audette/NHLI via Getty Images

Saying that the Rangers had a rough end to 2015 would be an understatement. After a dreadful 4-10-2 run in the last six weeks of the year, the Rangers played their best game in a long, long time, beating Tampa Bay 5-2. They didn’t have the numerous egregious defensive lapses this game. They back checked this game. They generated sustained offensive pressure in this game. And they best a very strong team.

Henrik Lundqvist outdueled Ben Bishop for the first time in his career, which seems odd to say. Bishop was 9-0 against the Rangers until this game. The defense certainly helped him out, limiting the Bolts’ shot attempts and holding them to just 22 shots on goal. The Rangers held the possession advantage throughout the contest, and while they weren’t generating a ton of attempts, they limited Tampa’s. The Bolts poured it on late as the pressed for the equalizer, but Hank stood tall. Overall, this was a solid win.

As always, you can view the full videos on our video page here. All GIFs are on nyrgifs.comfiltered under the date of the game. On to the goals:

Rangers 1, Lightning 0

This was a set piece off the faceoff. A clean win got the puck back to Keith Yandle as Dan Boyle circled around to the back door. Yandle drew attention, faked a shot, and put the puck right on Boyle’s tape for the easy goal.

Lightning 1, Rangers 1

marchessault goal

Jonathan Marchessault beat Ryan McDonagh to the slot while Anton Stralman wound up from the mid point. McDonagh couldn’t catch Marchessault in time, so he snow angeled instead of tying up his stick. Marchessault deflected it by Hank for the goal.

Rangers 2, Lightning 1

J.T. Miller did a good job skating through the defense and drawing attention before leaving the puck for Mats Zuccarello. Zucc didn’t waste any time and one-timed, picking a corner in the process.

Lightning 2, Rangers 2

stralman goal

Tanner Glass took an interference penalty after knocking Brian Boyle into the bench (gif here). On the ensuing powerplay, Jesper Fast gave Anton Stralman a little too much room, and he was free to get a few whacks at the puck while falling. The initial ruling was no goal, then goal, then upheld by the war room in Toronto.

Rangers 3, Lightning 2

Viktor Stalberg forced Stralman into a turnover, then tried to thread the puck to Dominic Moore cutting to the net. The puck took a fortuitous bounce off a Tampa player right to Moore, who deked Bishop for the goal.

Rangers 4, Lightning 2

Stalberg empty netter.

Rangers 5, Lightning 2

Rick Nash empty netter.

Shot Attempts

cf

The Rangers did a really fine job of limiting attempts for the potent Bolts offense. They clogged the blue line and prevented zone entries very well. They also got away from their own dump and chase a bit, or at least that what I noticed. It led to more attempts. It was nice to see the Blueshirts avoid the shell in the late game too.

Scoring Chances

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This chart is a big misleading because the numbers are so small. The Bolts had nine more scoring chances than the Rangers, but both teams did a good job of limiting the number of quality scoring chances.

Individual Corsi

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Yandle continues to be the most consistent Rangers defenseman, and the most under appreciated Rangers defenseman. He had a solid night.

Shot Locations

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Both teams did an excellent job limiting attempts from the crease. The majority of the attempts came from the points and the outside. Very well defended game.

Shift Chart

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Girardi/McDonagh got Stamkos, as expected. It was a bit of a surprise to see Yandle/Klein get two-thirds of the triplets though. Alain Vigneault switched up his bottom four defensemen a lot, though. There weren’t many forward matchups of note.

This is hopefully a sign of the Rangers getting back on track. They played extremely well against a team that should be one of the four club competing for the Eastern Conference crown this year. The key is consistency though, and they will need to follow it up this week in Sunrise.

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