TAMPA, Fla. — The Rangers closed out calendar year 2021 with, of all things, a shootout.
And Mika Zibanejad made it a Happy New Year celebration for them when he scored the only goal of the shootout to beat Brian Elliott with the final shot to give the Rangers a 4-3 win the Tampa Bay Lightning and a split of their two-game trip to the Sunshine State.
The teams play each other again Sunday afternoon in Madison Square Garden in their first contest of 2022. The win also was the Rangers’ 20th of the season (20-8-4).
With the game tied 2-2 entering the third period, Barclay Goodrow appeared to win it with his second goal when he deflected in a shot by K’Andre Miller at 13:35 to put the Rangers ahead. But the Lightning tied it with an extra skater on the ice when Corey Perry jammed in a rebound to make it 3-3 with 1:57 remaining in regulation.
The Rangers got a power play with 1:14 remaining in regulation when Victor Hedman was sent off for shooting the puck over the glass, but they failed to score with the man advantage, which carried into the overtime.
The Lightning, coming off a 9-3 loss Thursday to their instate rivals, the Florida Panthers, were not only playing the second night of a back-to-back, but they were without goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who remained unavailable while on COVID-19 protocol.
"Obviously he's one of the top, top goalies in the league,’’ Gallant said of Vasilevskiy. "If he's not the best, then he's right up there. [But] we can't worry about what they’ve got. We’ve got to worry about playing our game, and make sure we're ready to play for 60 minutes and battle hard and try and get two big points… They’re missing some top players… Vasilevskiy, [Nikita] Kucherov, [Erik] Cernak on defense. So, they’re a real good hockey team, missing some pieces. But they're still going to come up and battle and play a real good game.’’
The Lightning got No. 2 goalie Elliott and defenseman Mikhail Sergachev back off protocol and in the lineup, but Elliott didn’t have much to do in the first period, as the Rangers managed only three shots on goal. Tampa Bay had 10, including Steven Stamkos’ rocket one-timer on the power play that put the Lightning up, 1-0, at 18:21.
But Elliott’s misadventures handling the puck shockingly handed the Rangers two goals in the second period, and the lead. First, the goalie was behind the net trying to play the puck and, pressured by Julien Gauthier, tried to clear, sending the puck right onto the stick of Alexis Lafreniere, who shot it into the empty net for his seventh goal of the season, at 5:30.
Then, with the Rangers killing a penalty to Kaapo Kakko, Elliott aggressively came out to play a puck at the left wing half-boards. With former Lightning forward Goodrow applying pressure, Elliott sent the puck cross-ice to the far boards, where Greg McKegg intercepted it and passed to Goodrow, who slipped a shot under Elliott to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead at 14:30.
Goodrow, returning to Tampa for the first time since being traded to the Rangers over the summer, had been given his Stanley Cup ring by the Lightning in the morning. And during the first period, he got a Welcome Back tribute video and a standing ovation from the Lightning fans.
Tampa Bay tied the score, 2-2, when Ross Colton blew a one-time shot from above the left circle over Igor Shesterkin’s glove and into the top corner at 17:31 of the second.
