Frozen Frenzy Night Gives Lightning Second Loss in New York
Tuesday night was Frozen Frenzy Night in the National Hockey League. All 32 teams saw action. The Tampa Bay Lightning returned to the site of their lone loss this young season, Madison Square Garden. Unfortunately, the result this time was pretty similar to the last one. The Bolts had a lackluster effort and dropped another one to the New York Rangers, this one by a 4-1 final.
In Search of Some Frozen Frenzy Redemption
Since their opening night loss in New York, the Bolts have been unbeatable. However, the Rangers have also surprised many around the league with stellar play to open the season, even without their star netminder, Igor Shesterkin, who is out for the season.
The Lightning were looking for their redemption in New York. However, the first period started the same as in their previous visit. The Rangers jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Alexis Lafreniere scored twice-- the first at 1:02 and the second at 12:47. Before the period ended, the Bolts got on the scoreboard as Zemgus Girgensons notched his first of the season from Pontus Holmberg and Victor Hedman at 17:26.
Desperately Seeing the Tying Goal
The teams played a tightly matched second period. Each team got an early power play, but the other killed it. As the period wound down, the Lightning got a little sloppy in their own end. They had several chances to clear the puck, but the Rangers stole it and kept it in.
Eventually, the Rangers were rewarded for their efforts as Will Cuylle restored their two-goal lead. That goal, with just a minute and thirty-four seconds remaining in the middle frame, seemed to really take away any momentum the Lightning had hoped to carry into the third period.
Nothing Clicking in The Third
Down by two with twenty minutes remaining, the Bolts struggled to get anything going. They got an early power play, but Anthony Cirelli took a penalty during it to nullify the advantage.
In the final five minutes of regulation, the Lightning got another power-play opportunity. This time, they pulled Vasilevskiy for much of it to give themselves a six-on-four advantage. That led to a short-handed goal by Mika Zibanejad into the empty net.
That was all she wrote for the Bolts on Frozen Frenzy Night, as the Rangers once again downed our boys in blue. Final score: 4-1.
It's probably a good thing the Lightning are done playing at Madison Square Garden for this season.
Three Stars of the Game
Alexis Lafreniere -- two first period goals to lead his team to victory
Dylan Garand -- stopped 25 of 26 shots for the Rangers
Zemgus Girgensons -- first goal of the season
Up Next
The Bolts return home to face off against the visiting Seattle Kraken on Thursday night. Puck drop scheduled for 7:00 pm
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