Recap: Kartye's Three Points Sparks Rangers to 4-2 Season Finale Victory in Tampa

Just like that, game 82 of 82 has arrived. The New York Rangers are missing the playoffs for a second straight season, will finish at the bottom of the Metropolitan Division, and will have top five odds of winning the draft lottery, but their season officially ends tonight on the road against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning have already clinched second in the Atlantic and will take on the Montreal Canadiens in round one of the postseason. As a result, they were resting a ton of their top players.

A few relatively notable changes to the lineup ahead of the final outing. Dylan Garand would get the start in net, meaning Igor Shesterkin’s season (and Jonathan Quick’s career) is officially over. Additionally, Taylor Raddysh slotted back in with Jonny Brodzinski coming out. That means there is a chance we have seen Brodzinski’s last game as a New York Ranger. Also a classy move by the Rangers, getting Raddysh back in the lineup against his brother after what's been an incredibly tough year for the Raddysh family.

First Period

It only took the Rangers four minutes to get on the board in this one as Tye Kartye picked up his seventh of the season. Vladislav Gavrikov made a drop pass for Mika Zibanejad at the blue line as Zibanejad found Kartye on the right wing side where he let a quick shot go to beat one time Ranger Brandon Halverson. 1-0 Rangers. 

The Rangers nearly doubled their lead shortly after as Will Cuylle ripped a shot off the post. Outside of that, it was a pretty low event period. No penalties, only three high danger chances in total (2-1 in the Rangers favor), and a rather low expected goals count. Shots after twenty minutes were 8-6 in Tampa’s favor in what was overall a pretty even period. Dylan Garand made a couple of key saves to hold onto the Rangers lead as Kartye’s line was among the most noticeable. 

Second Period

It only took the Rangers 89 seconds to convert in the second period and again, it was Tye Kartye. He was interviewed during the intermission and mentioned how in the NHL, you have to shoot the puck as quick as you can when it ends up on your stick and he practiced his preaching again here in the second. The puck bounced out from the boards on a dump in and as soon as Kartye got to it, he fired it on net to make it 2-0. 

About a minute later, the Rangers got the first power play of the game as Charles Edouard-D’astous was sent off for hooking. The Rangers had some trouble maintaining possession but did come close to extending their lead as they hit another post from a point blank chance.

Shortly after the teams returned to even strength, Cuylle dropped a pass back to Gabe Perreault who walked the blue line and let a shot go from far out that beat Halverson through a screen to make it a 3-0 game. It was Kartye providing the screen, nearly completing a natural hat-trick. 

Closer to the midway point, Will Cuylle collided with Declan Carlile which left the Tampa defenseman quite shaken up. After a lengthy discussion, the officials decided to give Cuylle a penalty for tripping which left Dave Maloney absolutely flabbergasted on the call. A weak call indeed but nonetheless, Tampa had their first power play, at least for a moment in time. 

Oliver Bjorkstrand was called for hooking over a minute later which brought the teams to 4-on-4 hockey. Not long after the teams returned to even strength, Bjorkstrand made up for the infraction as he cashed in on a loose puck in the blue paint, spoiling Garand’s shutout to make it a 3-1 game. 

Tensions weee slightly rising throughout the night and with about seven and a half to go in the second stanza, a spirited scrum broke out as Emil Lilleberg drove Jaroslav Chmelar into Halverson which drew a crowd. The Rangers ended up with a power play out of this and rightfully so. It didn't take them long to convert with the advantage as Alexis Lafrenière set up Zibanejad for a quick little one touch at the bottom of the circle to make it a 4-1 game.

With the primary assist, Lafrenière officially tied his career high point total with 57. The goal was Zibanejad's 34th of the season.

Things quieted down as the period went on but the Rangers were surely in the drivers seat. With a 4-1 lead, they were being out-shot 17-15 and with twenty minutes left in the season, were looking to go out on a high note.

Third Period

51 seconds into the period, Garand gave one up that he'll certainly wish he could take back. A drop pass set up Corey Perry at the top of the circle and after deciding not to pass it, he spun around and threw a soft back hander towards the net which surprised Garand, to bring Tampa within two, 4-2.

On the following shift, Tampa went to the power play as Chmelar was called for tripping. While they wouldn't convert, it preceded a couple of odd-man rush chances for either side as the score remained the same through the front half of the period. It would become a sloppier, more low event period as a whole as there wasn't much happening in the final ten minutes of the period either.

Tampa ended up with a power play with three minutes to go as Kartye was called for slashing. The Bolts pulled Halverson to make it a 6-on-4 as Garand continued to stand tall in net, making some nice saves to hold onto the lead. The Rangers tried to get Kartye the hat-trick as he came out of the box but the stars wouldn't align for him.

That would do it for the outing and for the season as the Rangers close out the year with a 4-2 win over Tampa. As always, I like to close out the final recap of the season with a quick personal note. Unfortunately it was another disappointing, borderline joyless season for the Rangers. For as frustrating as this organization can be, there’s no other team I’d rather cover and root for.

I’m grateful for all of you who tune into the recaps and all the other content we put out here. Just because the regular season’s over doesn’t mean the content ends. We’ll have plenty of coverage throughout the playoffs, leading up to the draft, and all throughout the summer. Here’s to a better year next season and again, thank you all for your support!