Lightning needed two points, but they earned one against Rangers

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
March 6, 2017

TAMPA, Fla. – Moral victories mean very little to the Lightning.

Tampa Bay is a team in desperate need for actual victories. Two points are what matter the most.

And on a night the Lighntning had a chance to move to within a point of a playoff spot with two points, Tampa Bay only found one.

But it was one hard-earned, well-deserved point following a 1-0 overtime loss to the New York Rangers at Amalie Arena, one that left the Lightning feeling upbeat despite the final result.

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Mika Zibanejad converted a breakaway with 1:04 left in overtime to give the Rangers the victory and spoil another stellar effort from goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who finished with 33 saves. But Antti Raanta was just as superb at the other end, turning aside 38 shots as Tampa Bay was shutout for the fourth time this season, first since Dec. 23 at Washington.

In a playoff-intense atmosphere, both teams put forth a similar type of effort.

“We did everything we could do to try to win that game,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “Tip your hat to both goaltenders. I know everybody’s screaming for more scoring in the league, but that was a pretty darn exciting 0-0 game.”

It would have been much more exciting for Tampa Bay if they skated away with the extra point, which would have allowed the Lightning to leapfrog over Florida and Toronto and in to ninth place in the Eastern Conference standings and one point behind the New York Islanders.

Instead, Tampa Bay is tied with the Panthers and Maple Leafs while the Lightning have played one extra game.

“We played great, it was a tough matchup, two great goaltenders,” defenseman Victor Hedman said. “We wanted to finish it off, but they get a break and finish it off. But we take a lot good things from this and if we continue to play like this we are going to get the results we need to climb in.”

But to climb in, the Lightning need to find a way to finish off games in which they play well enough to win the game. Tampa Bay feels confident, based on the style of play put forth on Monday, they will do just that.

“I think it was one of the best games we’ve played all year,” left wing Ondrej Palat said. “The effort was there, the energy was there and I think we played a solid sixty minutes. It’s just the chances we had, we just didn’t score. But we have to build off that. But I think if we are going to keep playing like that, I think we will take our chances.”

The game quickly took on the life of a playoff-style game, complete with post-whistle scrums, heavy hitting, intense forechecking and a ripe appetite in the stands, spurred on by a lengthy fight between Luke Witkowski and Tanner Glass, who was called up by the Rangers to play his first NHL game since the end of last season.

It put the Lightning in to the right frame of mind to turn up the intensity.

“I liked it a lot, we were physical, we were mean,” Hedman said. “A lot of credit to Luke and Glass for that tilt, it really got everybody going. It was a great mathcup and it’s always a great matchup against New York, the crowd was wild and it was a good atmosphere out there.”

The two teams went out and played like it was a playoff game. And despite final score, there were plenty of scoring chances on both sides. In an old-fashioned goaltenders duel as Vasilevskiy and Raanta traded saves back and forth, it was a mistake that led to the winning goal.

After both goalies made final minutes saves in regulation to keep it tied – Vasilevskiy on Rick Nash with 58 seconds left and Raanta on Nikita Kucherov with 15 seconds left, a shot Raanta thought hit his glove and went in instead of going out of play – the teams continued to go up-and-down the ice in the overtime.

Just after Palat hit the post on an open chance, Hedman recovered the puck along the boards and tried to find Jonathan Drouin across the ice to an area Drouin just vacated. With all the open ice, the puck slid out to the neutral zone where Ryan McDonagh picked it up and fed Zibanejad had already burst up ice to set up the breakaway chance. Zibanejad beat Vasilevskiy high to the glove side, preventing the Lightning from picking up the extra point they desperately needed to climb further up the standings and closer to a playoff spot, even if there was high entertainment value.

“There was chances (on) both ends. There was big saves. The game had it all,” Cooper said. “I liked our emotion. Were we perfect? No, but we did everything in our power to win. Give them a lot of credit: They’re a 40-plus win team and rightfully so. They hung in there. We tilted the ice at times during the game and their goalie made the saves for them. When they tilted the ice on us, Vasy was making saves. Fans got their money worth tonight, except for the disappointment of not getting the last point. We needed that point a heckuva lot more than they did.”

Postgame notes: C Greg McKegg and RW J.T. Brown were both scrached. … C Yanni Gourde was called up from Syracuse in the American Hockey League and in the lineup, playing 10:09 of ice time D Luke Witkowski played his second consecutive game at forward, logging 7:54 of ice time. “He’s the new Brian Boyle,” Cooper quipped about the versatility of the former Lightning center. … RW Nikita Kucherov saw his scoring streak end at six games while D Victor Hedman saw his scoring streak end at five games. … C Tyler Johnson set a career high, winning 22-of-26 faceoffs. … Tampa Bay will practice at Amalie Arena at noon.

My three stars:
1.Rangers G Antti Raanta – Superb in goal, stopping 38 shots for his third shutout of the season

2.Lightning G Andrei Vasilevskiy – Equally strong in goal, finishing with 33 saves

3.Rangers RW Rick Nash – Strong presence all night, eight shots on goall

Postgame reaction from Stralman, Hedman, Palat

Postgame reaction from head coach Jon Cooper

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