Gerard Gallant glanced at his opponent’s impressive history on nights like these, shrugged, and crumpled it up like an old grocery list.
The Tampa Bay Lightning strolled into Madison Square Garden Friday night carrying a ridiculous 17-game win streak following a playoff loss — a record-crushing run that spanned 60 games, 10 victorious series, and two championship titles — but that didn’t matter to the New York Rangers’ no-nonsense head coach.
“It really doesn't,” Gallant told reporters. “I mean, they didn’t beat us 17 times. They beat other teams.”
With each playoff win of their own, the latest being Friday’s streak-busting 3-2 victory over the Lightning, Gallant’s group is gradually converting believers.
No, sir. The Rangers are not those other teams.
They are the only team to seize a 2-0 series lead over the mighty Lightning since 2019, they’re generating Grade-A chances aplenty, they are dressing the better goaltender (so far), and they are now six wins away from partying like it’s 1994.
“The bigger the game gets, the bigger our team gets,” Gallant said. “We’ve played a lot better hockey in the playoffs, for sure. We just getting more confident.”
That confidence was evident in how swiftly New York responded to an early dose of adversity in Game 2.
When fourth-line intimidators Ryan Reaves and Patrick Maroon engaged in a few whacks and smacks lining up for a face-off, only Reaves was sent to the penalty box — gifting the visitors a questionable power-play opportunity.
Nikita Kucherov pounded a rare puck past Igor Shesterkin to take the lead.
Only three minutes later K’Andre Miller blasted one past an increasingly human-looking Andrei Vasilevskiy, kicking off a 35-minute stretch in which New York owned the puck, pushed the pace, and thrust Tampa back on its heels.
A buzzing O-zone shift from Adam Fox ended with the defenceman threading a cross-ice pass to a net-front Kaapo Kakko.
Mika Zibanejad scorched the eventual winner high and clear over Vasilevskiy’s blocker after an egregious own-zone giveaway by Kucherov. Zibanejad’s laser extended his point streak to seven games (5-6–11) and helped shove Vasilevskiy’s save percentage below .900 for the second straight night.
At the opposite end, a dialled-in Shesterkin has posted a .939 save percentage and a 9-3 record since he was pulled in Game 4 against Pittsburgh in Round 1.
From their Vezina-calibre goaltender to their Norris-winning defenceman through to their most dangerous scorers, the Rangers’ best players are outduelling Tampa’s.
“We haven’t executed the proper way that has got us here,” Lightning captain Steven Stamkos lamented. “They’re a very skilled team, and they can make you pay.
“We need to get back to our identity.”
The Lightning gave the puck away 50 times at MSG this week. Some uncharacteristically sloppy execution from the most reliable post-season squad of the 2020s.
“Puck management, turnovers… it’s one of those things we need to be better at,” said Victor Hedman.
As one streak dies, another takes bloom.
The Rangers extended their win streak to eight at the Garden, the longest such run of home playoff success since the L.A. Kings in 2013. They’ve outscored their competition 35-16 over that stretch.
We’re certainly not counting Tampa out yet. The organization’s pride and pedigree won’t allow it.
“I do think we’ve got better in us,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. He's correct.
But with Tampa serving as the gold standard for the playoffs’ past 10 rounds, it was startling to hear Stamkos look down the hall, hoping to borrow some of that no-quit, searching for evidence that a two-game deficit could be overcome.
Why should Lightning fans trust that the champs haven’t run out of gas?
Stamkos pointed at the Rangers' own path to these conference finals. New York trailed Pittsburgh 3-1 in the first round and Carolina 2-0 in the second.
“The recipe is there,” Stamkos said.
Let's see what they can cook up at home Sunday.
Fox’s Fast 5
• The book on Vasilevskiy is out. Aim high.
Goals allowed by the reigning Conn Smythe champ in these playoffs, by location: 18 high blocker, eight high glove, five low glove, three low blocker, zero five-hole (via Sportloqiq).
• Chris Drury is thrilled with how well his deadline acquisitions have fit in.
The Rangers GM recalled heading down to the dressing room to congratulate his players following Tuesday’s emotional Game 7 win over the Carolina Hurricanes — a win that upgraded his Andrew Copp offer to Winnipeg from a second-rounder to a first-rounder.
"Copper looked up at me and said, 'Sorry about your first,'" Drury smiled. "Which is no problem at all."
• A Corey Perry glove save? Yep.
• How pleased is new U.S. broadcast partner ESPN that New York reached the third round?
Game 1 of the Rangers-Lightning series was the most-viewed conference final opener ever on American cable. That game’s average TV viewership of 2.4 million marked a 34 per cent jump from Game 1 of last season’s Lightning-Islanders tilt.
• Yankee Stadium goes off for Kakko:
