Rangers vs Lightning: The Kids Are Alright!

After losing six of their last seven contests, the New York Rangers finally jumped back into the win column with a massive statement win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Filip Chytil, who was recalled prior to tonight’s game, picked up his first goal of the season and was noticeable every time he was on the ice. Chytil’s goal in the third period gave the Rangers the lead before Adam Fox closed out the scoring with his first NHL goal.

In a rather surprising move, Marc Staal was healthy scratched for the first time in his career for tonight’s game, while Ryan Lindgren was inserted in his place next to Adam Fox.

Here is tonight’s goal breakdown.

1st Period

Nikita Kucherov (4) - Brayden Point (4) & Steven Stamkos (7) - 15:44 1st Period

The score in this game during the first period was a little deceiving in the sense that the Rangers were surprisingly controlling a majority of this game. Unfortunately, a defensive lapse during a line change ended up in the back of the Rangers net and they were forced to play catch-up. Following a long shift in the defensive zone, the Rangers failed to get the puck deep enough into Tampa’s end, and the Lightning countered as all five Rangers exited the ice.

Brayden Point flew through the neutral zone before the Rangers were able to get back on the ice, and fed a crisp pass over to Nikita Kucherov on the far side. Kucherov had the entire net to shoot at and tapped the puck under Alexandar Georgiev to make it 1-0 in favor of Tampa Bay.

2nd Period

Kaapo Kakko (2) PPG - Ryan Strome (7) & Artemiy Panarin (5) - 9:37 Period

After falling behind late in the first period, the Rangers had their chance on the power play and took full advantage of the opportunity. Kaapo Kakko picked up his second goal of the season after corralling the puck in a shooting position, adjusting his angle around the defender and firing a shot on goal.

Kakko’s shot took a few fortunate bounces after Andrei Vasilevskiy made the initial save, and wound up bouncing in off of Brayden Coburn’s leg. That certainly doesn’t take away from the smarts Kakko displayed on the goal by waiting the extra second for the defender to slide by and then picked his spot.

3rd Period

Filip Chytil (1) - Pavel Buchnevich (6) - 12:46 3rd Period

The Rangers continued to press forward with chance after chance but still were unable to break through with the go-ahead goal. Finally, just past the halfway mark of the third period, the Rangers finally took the first lead of the night. Pavel Buchnevich created the entire sequence with a great defensive play at the Rangers’ blue line, and transitioned the puck into a rush the other way.

Buchnevich pulled up at the opposing blue line as he entered the zone and found Filip Chytil cutting to the net through a seam. Buchnevich was able to put the puck in open space for Chytil, who got a nasty one-handed deflection on the puck and chipped it by Vasilevskiy.

Adam Fox (1) - Chris Kreider (4) & Ryan Lindgren (1) - 17:24 3rd Period

Fitting with the theme of the previous two goals, the Rangers youngsters continued to shine in the brights lights as Adam Fox picked up his first career NHL goal. Another odd-man rush into the zone led by Chris Kreider generated a rebound through the high slot, and Adam Fox jumped on the loose puck for an easy tap-in.

The more intriguing part of the goal was Kreider doing a quick check over his shoulder to evaluate the rush, and then shooting to generate the rebound. Kreider was never actually shooting to score, but rather putting the puck in an area off of the goaltender’s pad for the two players crashing the net on the far side.

Ryan Strome (3) ENG - Unassisted - 19:14 3rd Period

Ryan Strome closed out the scoring for the Rangers with under a minute remaining, and cashed in on the empty net from his own blue line. The goal put the Rangers by three goals and sealed the deal with a massive win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Following tonight’s win over the Lightning, the Rangers will have three days off before returning to action on Saturday afternoon against the Nashville Predators.