After a summer full of turnover, the Tampa Bay Lightning knew they needed to be sharp if they expected to win games. That wasn’t the case Tuesday night and the result was a 3-1 loss to the New York Rangers.
Game Flow
The game started with a lot of back and forth action and outstanding goaltending from two of the NHL’s best in Andrei Vasilevskiy and Igor Shesterkin.
Late in the opening period, Erik Cernak was penalized for holding Kaapo Kakko. The Rangers power play went to work, firing a lot of shots on net. Thankfully, Vasilevskiy was up to the task, making a couple of magnificent saves to keep things scoreless.
Entering the second, Tampa Bay needed to stay disciplined and generate more offense at even strength. They started to accomplish their mission, drawing three straight penalties on the Rangers.
Unfortunately, the Bolts first power play went south, as an errant pass gave Mika Zibanejad a breakaway. He didn’t miss, firing the puck over the shoulder of Vasilevskiy. That gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead.
Nearly five minutes later, Brandon Hagel drew two separate penalties, giving the Lightning a 5-on-3 power play. Seconds after Shesterkin denied Nikita Kucherov, captain Steven Stamkos rocketed a slap shot past the Rangers netminder to tie the game at one.
Unfortunately, the Lightning began to get into penalty trouble late in the period. That gave the Rangers lots of time to test Vasilevskiy, something that would prove beneficial as the game wore on.
With the game tied after 40 minutes, the Lightning needed to stay out of the box and generate more offense.
The mission was not accomplished, as a high-sticking penalty on Vladislav Namestnikov allowed Zibanejad to score the go-ahead goal.
The Bolts got a man advantage shortly thereafter but couldn’t generate anything.
Barclay Goodrow put the nail in Tampa Bay’s coffin after a broken play involving newcomer Philippe Myers left him wide open. He didn’t miss, making it 3-1 Rangers.
Game Notes
- Steven Stamkos started his 15th season with the Lightning Tuesday night, surpassing Vincent Lecavalier’s 14.
- Andrei Vasilevskiy made 36 saves on 39 shots, some of which were 10 bell saves.
- Rookie Cole Koepke made his NHL debut wearing #45.
- Mikhail Sergachev led all Bolts in blocked shots, including one that saved a goal.
- Mika Zibanejad scored twice and became the first player in franchise history to record two multi-goal games in season openers with the Rangers.
- Steven Stamkos posted his 17th career point in season-opening games. The only active players with more are Alex Ovechkin (24), Anze Kopitar (21), Patrick Kane (18) and Joe Pavelski (18) – all of whom have yet to play in 2022-23.
- Steven Stamkos tallied his 182nd career power-play goal, pulling him into a tie with Dale Hawerchuk for 26th place among the NHL’s all-time power-play goal leaders.
Up Next
Coming off a sloppy all-around game, the Lightning will get a couple of days to practice before facing the new-look Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night. Puck drop is set for 7pm EST.