Yet again, the New York Rangers cannot take the first two-games at home in a series as they fall to the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-2.
By Robby Sabo
There wasn’t one point in this Game 2 between the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning when you thought to yourself the Blueshirts were outmatched.
In fact, despite the lopsided score of 5-2, it looked like the Rangers were still the superior team.
The problem all night was sloppiness.
Mistakes haunted New York in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals. They even came with a two-man advantage.
From the get-go it was apparent the officials had decided to call this game differently. It wasn’t a game which featured Stanley Cup Playoff-like holding, clutching and grabbing. Any type of infraction – as minor as it might seem – was going to be called.
This led to an early two-man advantage for the Rangers. The only problem was Marty St. Louis continues to show why he’s the worst player on the roster.
Instead of carefully accepting the pass, knowing you’re the last line of defense, St. Louis casually allowed it to become a turnover and the first of three Tyler Johnson goals on the night:
A little over three-minutes later Chris Kreider scored on the power play to even the score at one:
Chris Kreider on clean up crew for the @NYRangers. #NYRvsTBL #StanleyCup https://t.co/czbRjgTLsn
— NHL (@NHL) May 19, 2015
But, Tampa Bay was not to be outdone as yet another power play goal was scored – the second for Johnson – to give the Lightning the lead they would not relinquish.
Even a big-time flurry late in the second period couldn’t get the Rangers all tied up.
James Sheppard came close after a Ben Bishop mishap, and Jesper Fast couldn’t elevate one off a rebound early in the third after a Rick Nash semi-breakaway.
The Lightning finished 3-6 with the man advantage in the game, but also scored their fourth-goal shortly after a Rangers penalty expired.
When the game was played at even strength, it could be argued the Rangers enjoyed the better play.
Bishop made a few huge saves when the score was 3-2. He finished with 33 saves on 35 Rangers shots, while Henrik Lundqvist stopped 17 of 22.
Game 3 will take place on Wednesday night in Tampa Bay.
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