It’s been a minute since the Rangers dropped a 7 spot on an opponent, and while a small sample, it’s clear this team missed Vincent Trocheck. His line with Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere has been the Harlem Globetrotters on ice. Maybe we deeply underestimated just how much of a skilled glue guy he is for this team. The line scored four of the seven goals, including multi point nights for Panarin (1-3-4) and Trocheck (2-0-2).
The big boys came to play yet again, and for the first period, it was good they did! The Rangers and Lightning put up 7 goals in the first period, with bad defense and goaltending on both sides driving the spike in offense. Igor Shesterkin settled down after the first period and shut down the Lightning for the rest of the game. The Rangers were sloppy, ceding both quantity and quality to the Lightning, making Shesterkin’s performance in the second and third periods that much more important.
Though most of the offense came at 5v5, a welcome change from prior years, the Rangers managed another power play goal from Will Cuylle in front. Planting himself by the net, Cuylle took a puck off the back boards off a missed shot by Adam Fox and roofed it over Andrei Vasilevsky, who had probably his worst regular season game in quite some time.
The onslaught didn’t stop there though, as the next two Rangers shots by JT Miller, and Alexis Lafreniere also found the back of the net, making the Rangers three-for-three to start the game. The Lightning pushed back, keeping it close after the first, but the Rangers blew the doors off as the game progressed. The goals were fun, but the game itself was pretty sloppy all around.
An odd trend worth watching though, as the second period seems to give the Rangers issues with sustaining long offensive pressure. Shesterkin made 12 saves in the second period, many of them quality chances against. Before a Rangers push that resulted in the goal that chased Vasilevskiy, the shots were 11-2 for Tampa. Hockey is a game of ebbs and flows, though this had more of a Gerard Gallant/Peter Laviolette feeling than a Mike Sullivan feeling. Expect the Rangers to tighten it up defensively after a pair of sloppy games in their own end.
Thanksgiving is fast approaching, which is a great time for the Rangers to go on a long winning streak to cement themselves as a playoff contender. At the time of composing this writing, they are only 3 points out from the Metropolitan Division lead. With Columbus and Detroit coming up this weekend, the Rangers have an opportunity to make it four in a row and five of six before their next west coast trip.
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