Welcome home.
Back at Madison Square Garden with a chance to set a season-high four-game winning streak, the Rangers again looked lost on home ice, like a team on a never-ending penalty kill, getting outplayed and outworked by the Lightning — and outshot 35-11 — in a dispiriting 4-1 loss Saturday afternoon.
While Tampa Bay (16-7-2) claimed its seventh straight win and payback for a 7-3 loss to the Blueshirts on Nov. 12, the Rangers (13-12-2) added another embarrassing chapter at the Garden, where they have gone 2-8-1, while being held to one goal in eight games. On the road, the Rangers own an NHL-best 11 wins, while averaging 3.43 goals per game. They entered Saturday’s game averaging 1.8 goals per game at home.
After a road-heavy start to the season, the Rangers will play six of their next eight games at home, starting Tuesday against Dallas.
The Rangers opened the game by going nearly 10 minutes without recording a shot on net, while the Lightning were credited with the game’s first nine shots, and 17 of the first 18 shot attempts, failing to break through a Lightning defense without three of its top defensemen (Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh, Erik Cernak) or test backup goaltender Jonas Johansson.
It would have been a massacre if not for Igor Shesterkin (31 saves), who often was at his best but also benefited from some breaks. After one save that put Shesterkin on his stomach, Pontus Holmberg blew an open net by lifting the puck over the crossbar. Later, Jake Guentzel got behind the defense for a breakaway, but missed wide. Zemgus Girgensons then was left alone between the circles, but his shot collided with the post.
The chances kept piling up, with the ice tilted towards Shesterkin. Shortly after the Garden produced a sarcastic cheer for Carson Soucy putting the first shot on net midway through the period, Tampa finally took the lead on a lucky bounce. Only after Brandon Hagel threw a puck off the skate of Soucy — which was quickly redirected into the back of the net — did the scoreboard begin telling the truth, with the Lightning taking a 1-0 lead with 9:07 left in the period.
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While the Rangers are 11-2 this season when scoring the first goal, they have won just two of 13 games when the opponent scores first.
It was a miracle that the damage wasn’t worse, and that the Rangers received their first power play five minutes later, with a chance to even the score.
But even with ample time in the zone, they failed to put one on target during the man-advantage, finishing the period with just two shots on net.
The Rangers struggled to find momentum after the break, with Matthew Robertson getting whistled for holding early in the second period. The Rangers killed the penalty but soon allowed the Lightning’s seemingly inevitable second goal.
After Hagel was stopped on the break by a Shesterkin pad save, Tampa’s leading scorer collected his own rebound, and lifted it over the Rangers goaltender for his second goal with 11:02 remaining.
Through 31 minutes, the Rangers had put four shots on net; none from J.T. Miller; none from Mika Zibanejad; none from Will Cuylle; none from Alexis Lafrenière; one from Artemi Panarin.
Then, the deficit was cut in half, with Adam Fox feeding a cross-ice pass to Miller, who tapped in the Rangers’ first goal with 2:29 left in the second period. It was Miller’s seventh goal of the season.
The Lightning failed to capitalize after opening the third period on a power play — following interference from Shesterkin — but regained their two-goal advantage shortly after it ended as Nikita Kucherov found Nick Paul in front.
The Rangers showed signs of life after getting another power play opportunity with 8:04 remaining, but every chance was followed by the collective groan of thousands. Then came the boos.
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