Rangers erupt for seven goals, Artemi Panarin tallies four assists in road win over Lightning
Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy looks away as the Rangers celebrate a goal by defenseman Will Borgen during the first period on Wednesday in Tampa, Fla. Credit: AP/Jason Behnken
TAMPA, Fla. — The road-warrior Rangers came out flying with a four-goal first period and went on to beat the Lightning, 7-3, on Wednesday night.
The Rangers (9-7-2) improved to 8-1-1 on the road two days after notching their first home win of the season.
The Rangers, who won their fifth straight road game, scored on their first three shots. They were clinging to a 4-3 lead late in the second when Vincent Trocheck scored his first goal in his second game of the season. Trocheck, who missed the first 14 games with an upper-body injury, added another early in the third to make it 6-3.
Will Cuylle, who scored twice, added an empty-netter. The Rangers have scored 13 goals in their last two games.
Artemi Panarin had four assists.
“I sleep deep tonight,” Panarin said. “Good dreams.”
Igor Shesterkin stopped 31 shots for the Rangers, who have won six of eight.
The Lightning were without multiple injured players, including defensemen Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh. Tampa Bay lost Brandon Hagel in the first after a big hit from Carson Soucy.
So it was incumbent on the Rangers to pounce, and pounce they did in a wild opening period against Andrei Vasilevskiy. But Tampa Bay didn’t cave, scoring three goals of its own in the first.
“I don’t want to put words in [Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper’s] mouth,” Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said. “But probably both coaching staffs weren’t overly thrilled. From a fan standpoint, I’m sure it was a whole lot of fun. You’ve got two of the most elite goalies in the league, and there’s seven goals scored in the first period. It was a loose period, just all around. I just didn’t think were at our best from a defensive standpoint.”
But, oh, the offense. The Rangers were on the power play just 45 seconds into the game (Yanni Gourde, roughing) and cashed in when Cuylle scored at 1:09 off a nifty Adam Fox feed off the end boards.
J.T. Miller made it 2-0 at 3:31 when he was credited with his fourth goal on a deflection of a Mika Zibanejad pass.
Scott Sabourin beat Shesterkin on a 2-on-1 at 6:04 to make it 2-1.
Alexis Lafreniere blasted in his fourth of the season at 7:07. It was the first time the Rangers had scored three goals in a period this season, and they weren’t done. But neither was Tampa Bay.
The Lightning made it 3-2 at 14:01 on a Zemgus Girgensons’ rebound goal. Will Borgen’s first goal of the season at 16:20 gave the Rangers a 4-2 advantage, but Tampa Bay’s Jake Guentzel scored shorthanded on a backhand 1:12 later, and it was 4-3 after one.
“Definitely a bit wide open for our liking,” Cullye said. “Think we need to be more sound in our ‘D’ zone. Want to stay away from playing those, like, track-meet games.”
It was the first time the Rangers scored four goals in a first period since April 10 against the Islanders. The Rangers won that game, 9-2.
Wednesday’s second period didn’t match the dizzying first. Tampa Bay had 10 of the first 11 shots on goal, and Shesterkin held the one-goal lead despite the onslaught.
“He was huge,” Sullivan said. “And that’s what I think Shesty’s capable of. He’s an elite goalie, and he makes big saves at key times. Like I said, I didn’t think we were at our best for the first two periods. I thought we got outplayed in the second period. The first period, it’s anybody’s game. But I thought the third period, I thought, OK, we started to play the semblance of the game that we’re trying to play every night, shift after shift.”
Trocheck made it 5-3 with 1:41 left in the second when he potted a perfect pass from Panarin. Vasilevskiy tripped over his own feet trying to stop the puck and Cooper had seen enough. Jonas Johansson replaced Vasilevskiy, who allowed five goals on 13 shots, at the start of the third period.
Rangers add goalie. The Rangers added a veteran goalie for Hartford (AHL) by signing Spencer Martin to a two-year contract. Martin, 29, has a 24-30-8 record in 66 games with Colorado, Vancouver, Columbus and Carolina.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
More Rangers
