Kartye Scores Twice, Rangers Down Lightning in Regular Season Finale

Tye Kartye and Mika Zibanejad celebrate Kartye's first period goal on Wednesday night at Benchmark International Arena. Photo Credit: Alyssa Shimko | Thunderstruck Sports

By Mike Smith | Thunderstruck Sports

Tye Kartye had two goals and an assist as the New York Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in the regular season finale, 4-2. Mika Zibanejad added a goal and an assist.

Oliver Bjorkstrand and Corey Perry both scored for the Lightning. The loss was their fourth in the last six games as the Lightning struggled to put together consistent play at the conclusion of the season.

Securing home ice advantage for the first round against Montreal before the start of the game, Tampa Bay rested several key players in advance of the playoffs.

Rangers Take Advantage of the Lightning's Roster

With Lightning stars such as Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel, and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy out of the lineup, the Rangers took advantage of the opportunity.

Kartye scored his first goal of the game at the 4:02 mark of the first period when he powered a feed from Zibanejad past Syracuse callup Brandon Halverson. Halverson was a last-minute replacement for Vasilevskiy.

A Vincent Trochek shot sails high over the net Wednesday night. Photo Credit: Alyssa Shimko | Thunderstruck Sports

Tampa Bay had several other Syracuse Crunch players called up for Wednesday night's game. Jakob Pellitier, Mitchell Chaffee, and Steven Santini were in the lineup for the Bolts and saw action. Max Crozier was also back in the lineup after being on injured reserve.

Kartye added his second goal of the night at the 1:29 mark of the second period. Racing Crozier towards the Lightning net, Kartye corralled the puck as it kareened off the backboards, and snapped a shot past Halverson.

Rangers' goalie Dylan Garand stops a Max Crozier shot Wednesday night. Garand stopped 29 of 31 shots faced. Photo Credit: Alyssa Shimko | Thunderstruck Sports

Gabriel Perreault made the score 3-0 minutes later when his shot from the blue line streaked over Halverson's shoulder into the back of the net.

Lightning Efforts to Rally Fall Short

Oliver Bjorkstrand got Tampa Bay on the board at the 11:15 mark of the second period when he collected a rebound from a Scott Sabourin shot and got it past Rangers goalie Dylan Garand.

Sabourin and Chaffee had worked the puck into the Rangers' zone, and Sabourin was able to get a clean shot off from the right circle. Garand made the initial save, but could not keep Bjorkstrand from scoring on the rebound.

Oliver Bjorkstrand collects a rebound from a Scott Sabourin shot as he scores against Rangers goalie Dylan Garand. Photo Credit: Alyssa Shimko | Thunderstruck Sports

Just when momentum appeared to be on the Lightning's side, Zibanejad scored 91 seconds later to bring the New York lead to 4-1.

Perry scored his 17th goal of the season only 51 seconds into the third period on a nice spinning backhand to bring the score to 4-2, Rangers.

Despite outshooting New York 14-6 in the final period, Garand and the Rangers' defense held their ground and kept Tampa Bay at arm's length. In only the third start of his career, Garand stopped 29 of 31 shots.

Tampa Bay had one last attempt to get back into the game late when Kartye slashed Darren Raddysh at the 16:47 mark of the third period. The Lightning's power play struggles continued as they failed to convert.

Tampa Bay is now 1-for-32 in its last 33 power play chances.

Three Stars of the Game

1. Tye Kartye, New York. Two goals and an assist for the night.

2. Corey Perry, Tampa Bay. One goal, but a very nice one on the spinning backhand.

3. Scott Sabourin, Tampa Bay. One assist and a hard-fought effort.

Up Next

The Tampa Bay Lightning will host the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The NHL will announce the day and time on Friday.