J.T. Miller’s brilliant overtime goal provides the New York Rangers with the clutch 2-1 overtime victory over the Lightning in Tampa.
- New York Rangers 2 (5-7-2, 12 points)
- Tampa Bay Lightning 1 (10-2-2, 22 points)
- NYR Goals: Chris Kreider (4). J.T. Miller (3)
- TB Goals: Yanni Gourde (3)
- NHL, Final (OT), Boxscore
- Amalie Arena, Tampa, Florida
On Thursday night against the Lightning in Tampa, the New York Rangers were looking to build off a strong third period against the Vegas Golden Knights in which they dominated the final 20 minutes in a comeback win.
That momentum carried over in what had the feel of a playoff game with both teams pushing and shoving in between whistles. The Rangers enjoyed one of their best games of the season and with J.T. Miller’s overtime goal can celebrate a hard-fought win.
Mats Zuccarello is beloved for his feistiness, grit and especially for his ability to stand up for his teammates. He showed that again in this one by taking on Victor Hedman.
To get the scoring going, Chris Kreider capitalized on a beautiful passing sequence on a three on one for the first goal of the game.
The Rangers would take the lead into the second period and they had some help from Jesper Fast to preserve that lead.
Despite the solid team defense throughout this game, Yanni Gourde capitalized on a moment of weakness within the Rangers defense shorthanded.
With the game tied in the third period, Tampa thought that they had scored but it was waived off because of goaltender interference.
In this one, fans were treated to a quality goaltending battle between Henrik Lundqvist and Andrei Vasilevskiy. Both goaltenders came up with huge saves with their backs against the wall to force this one to overtime.
J.T. Miller has been the best player on the ice of late for the Rangers and that continued in this one. Miller had plenty of chances throughout the game but capitalized on the most important one, a dazzling effort in overtime:
Thanks to the Miller goal, the Rangers have now won back-to-back games for the first time this season and have picked up points in six of their last 10 games.
The Blueshirts’ will be back in action when they continue with their Florida road trip Saturday against the Florida Panthers.