New York Rangers Routed by Tampa Bay Lightning

The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Mary Chastain

The Tampa Bay Lightning completely skated over the New York Rangers, 6-2, on Monday night. The series heads to Florida tied at 1-1.

What did the Lightning do wrong? Not much. The team came out fighting and never once looked back. The Rangers did outshoot them (once again, the losing team makes the most shots), but when the Lightning controlled the puck it was smooth and graceful. With the help of goalie Ben Bishop the team easily glided to victory.

The Lightning gifted the Rangers two penalties in the first period. One would expect a team with a two man advantage on the ice to score or at least control the puck.

Nope.

Lazy puck handling literally put the puck in the wide open for grabs. Tyler Johnson grabbed the puck and raced towards Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist. Martin St. Louis attempted to stop Johnson, but it resulted in a goal.

The net came off its hinges, but a replay clearly shows the puck crossed the line beforehand.

The Rangers caught a slight break when the referees whistled Brenden Morrow for high sticking. Chris Kreider tied it up on the power play, but as soon as Morrow skated out of the sin bin, the Lightning returned in full control. The Rangers lost their cool, provided the Lightning with more power plays, and Johnson scored his second goal on the Derek Stepan penalty.

The second period was no better for the Rangers. Johnson scored his third goal of the game. He scored shorthanded, on a power play, and ay even strength. Mario Lemieux remains the only player to score those three goals plus a penalty shot and empty net goal.

The Lightning remained amazing, completely in sync with each other and dominant. Bishop was caught out of his net and Victor Hedman slid in front of the net to save a goal.

The Rangers caught another break when Cedric Paquette received an interference penalty. Stepan scored the power play goal to make it 3-2.

No stick? No problem! Johnson set up a scoring chance for his team despite losing his stick.

The Rangers were in utter chaos in the third period. The Lightning remained cool and calm. The Rangers merited Benny Hill music to be played whenever they had the puck while the Lightning deserved Thunderstruck as their background. Alex Killorn scored two goals, including on a power play, and Steven Stamkos also added a power play goal. Yes, two more power play goals. Six goals tonight and only two at even strength.

NBCSN commentators spent a lot of time after the game tearing apart the Rangers, but the Lightning deserve applause. The game was almost flawless for them. Bishop is usually a huge reason why they win, but tonight it was everyone and everyone is how a team wins the Stanley Cup.

Game 3 is Wednesday on NBCSN at 8 p.m Eastern.

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