Rangers Recap: Shesterkin Scores In Rangers 5-1 Home Opener Victory Over Tampa

After a disappointing opening night in Boston, the New York Rangers were right back at it at Madison Square Garden for their home opener against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Looking to flip the script from their Game 1 performance, the Rangers were able to find the back of the net early and put together a much-needed first win of the season.

As reported earlier, Dylan Garand rejoined the team as Joonas Korpisalo was placed on IR Thursday afternoon. There would be another last-minute change to the lineup as Jaroslav Chmelar made his season debut with Matt Rempe coming out. Aside from that, the Rangers rolled out a nearly identical lineup to the one they iced on the road Tuesday night.

First Period

The Rangers got off to a much better start in this one as they were controlling possession and outshooting the Bolts 3-0 through the first five minutes of the game. It was then they went on the power play as J.J. Moser was sent off for holding. With the top unit out there, it wasn't long before it essentially turned into a 5-on-3.5 as Victor Hedman lost his stick.

Adam Fox did a fantastic job of setting up Pavel Dorofeyev for a one-timer in the high slot, and while Andrei Vasilevskiy made the initial save, Mika Zibanejad was right there to put home the rebound. A 1-0 game as Zibanejad picked up the first goal of the 2026-27 Rangers season.

It wasn't long before the Lightning got a turn with the man advantage as Braden Schneider was called for a holding penalty of his own. The Rangers did a great job of killing it off as Joe Veleno and Tye Kartye continue to stand out in that role.

Upon returning to even strength, Oliver Bjorkstrand did a great job of interrupting a play in the defensive zone and driving the play up ice. He ended up on a partial 2-on-0 with Dorofeyev and found him breaking to the other side of the net. A quick shot from Dorofeyev found the back of the net for his first as a Ranger to make it a 2-0 game.

With six and a half to go, the Rangers were called for another holding penalty as Will Cuylle would have a turn sitting for two minutes. Bit of a weak call as Cuylle was really just jostling for position through the neutral zone. Either way, no harm associated with the foul as the Rangers remained perfect on the penalty kill.

That would just about do it for a strong opening period on home ice. Shots after 20 were 7-6 in the Rangers' favor, but Tampa did have the edge in shot attempts and scoring chances.

Second Period

It only took the Rangers a minute and a half into the second period to add to their lead. A great shift from the third line resulted in Eeli Tolvanen getting the puck to the net. It initially appeared as if it deflected off Cuylle in front, but it may have gone off a Tampa defender instead as it would turn into Tolvanen's first as a New York Ranger.

On the following shift, a strong push from the Lightning resulted in another big save from Igor Shesterkin. The puck was still loose as the official blew the whistle, which caused a scrum to break out as the Lightning were still hacking at the puck. Following the scrum, matching roughing penalties were assessed to Schneider and Jeffrey Viel, sending play to 4-on-4 for the next two minutes.

The extra ice brought a couple of big chances for the Rangers as J.T. Miller forced a pass too close to the net on a 2-on-0 and Alexis Lafrenière was shut down on a proper breakaway.

The Rangers were having a great night, but lost some momentum closer to the midway point as Tampa got on the board. A weird bounce off the boards behind the net ended up on the stick of Nikita Kucherov, who backhanded the puck into traffic, off Noah Laba, and into the Rangers' net. 3-1 game.

With seven minutes to go in the period, the Rangers went back to the penalty kill as Miller was called for hooking. The special-teams units continued to have success as the Rangers came out of it 3-for-3 on the night.

About a minute after returning to even strength, Fox found a wide-open Gabe Perreault in front of Tampa's net and hit him with a shot-pass from the point. Perreault was able to deflect it in to regain momentum and extend his team's lead to 4-1.

Despite the fluky goal against off Laba, the Rangers gave the World's Most Famous Arena plenty to cheer about as they had two periods of strong hockey. Shots after 40 minutes were 19-18 in Tampa's favor. In addition to having success with special teams, the Rangers were also winning 65 percent of the faceoffs through the first two periods.

Third Period

Not an ideal start to the period as Miller went back to the box, this time for holding. Business as usual for the Rangers as they killed it off and were shortly thereafter on a power play of their own. Moser was called for his second infraction of the night as Lafrenière was tripped in the slot.

The Rangers came up empty on this one and were back to the penalty kill not long after. Tampa was given its fifth power-play chance of the evening as Fox was called for tripping. In what might be the earliest a goalie has ever been pulled for the extra attacker, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper pulled Vasilevskiy to make it a 6-on-4 with just under 10 minutes to go.

With three seconds to go on the penalty to Fox, Laba joined him in the penalty box as he sent the puck over the glass for a delay-of-game call. Vasilevskiy returned to the net briefly but was pulled again with about eight minutes to go. Another potential first as Vasilevskiy returned to the net mid-play once the teams returned to even strength.

The Lightning pulled the goalie for a third time with about four and a half to go, this time at even strength. All eyes were on Shesterkin as there was plenty of time for him to get his chance at a goal. Sure enough, with just about two minutes left, Shesterkin let a picture-perfect shot go from the other end of the ice for a rare goalie goal.

A moment Shesterkin and the entire Rangers fan base will never forget, as he became the first goaltender in Rangers history to score a goal.

That would do it as a Shesterkin goal capped off a 5-1 win for the Rangers. Final count in the shots-on-goal department would be 25-25. They'll be right back at it Friday night as the Rangers head north to take on the Detroit Red Wings for an Original Six matchup.