The Rangers led with strong defense and capitalized on Bolts mistakes when they needed to throughout the night.
It was one of those nights where nothing seemed to be falling the Lightning’s way.
Shesterkin saved 34 on his 28th birthday, while Vincent Trocheck and Artemi Panarin were all over the place on offense grabbing four points and a hat trick, respectively.
With the loss, the Bolts fall to 17-15-5 with a New Years Eve matchup against the Canadiens on Sunday night.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
NYR 1, TBL 0
1:51 Artemi Panarin (21) – Vincent Trocheck, Alexis Lafreniere
Victor Hedman caught an edge and went down to the ice allowing a two-man Rangers breakaway minutes into the contest. Vincent Trocheck hit Artemi Panarin in rhythm for the easy top-shelf put in past Andrei Vasilevskiy.
NYR 2 – TBL 0
7:36 Vincent Trocheck (9) – Jacob Trouba, Alexis Lafreniere
Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere continue to get in on the action midway through the first. Trocheck took advantage of a lack of coverage from Vasilevskiy, chipping away at a loose puck in the crease until he got it home.
2nd Period
NYR 2, TBL 1
17:39 Nikita Kucherov (25) – Steven Stamkos, Nick Paul – PPG
The Bolts finally got on the board thanks to some nice puck work from Nick Paul and Steven Stamkos, who fed it to Nikita Kucherov for a snipe from the circle on the power play.
NYR 3, TBL 1
18:30 Chris Kreider (18) – Vincent Trocheck, Blake Wheeler
The Rangers answered right back with a Chris Kreider wrister before Kucherov’s goal could even be announced—a clutch moment for New York and a tough break for Tampa Bay before the end of the second period.
3rd Period
NYR 4 , TBL 1
11:16 Artemi Panarin (22) – Vincent Trocheck
Artemi Panarin muscled his way through a set of Lightning defenders for a wrister over Vasilevskiy’s blocker side midway through the third. Trocheck continued his tear of a game notching his fourth point of the night on the play.
NYR 5, TBL 1
15:25 Artemi Panarin (23) – Adam Fox, Mika Zibanejad -- PPG
A handful of hats hit the ice for Panarin who put his third goal of the night past Vasilevskiy on the 4-on-3 power play. It was a rough night for Vasy and the Lightning defense against a strong showing from New York.
