The New York Rangers scored a victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup held at Madison Square Garden. This victory put the Rangers two points ahead in this series.
Highlights from Game 2
The Rangers’ K’Andre Miller, Kaapo Kakko, and Mika Zibanejad were among the players to score for the Rangers. Miller and Kakko both scored in the first half, while Zibanejad scored early in the third with the help of Fox’s pass.
Thanks to Zibanejad’s scoring, the Rangers lead 3-1. With this score, Zibanejad registered his ninth score of the playoffs as well as the six goals of his last seven games.
The team coach, Gerard Gallant, also acknowledged the goal as the big one for his side, knowing that they were facing a good team. “It was a big goal, obviously. We knew they were going to push real hard. We were playing against a real good team over there,” he said.
Beyond that, Adam Fox and Chris Kreider each had two assists. While Filip Chytil and Frank Vatrano each scored one assist, Not only that, Igor Shesterkin also blocked 29 shots so the Rangers could defend against the Lightning with a score of 3-2.
On the Lightning side, Nikita Kucherov and Nicholas Paul each scored one goal. The Lightning’s Anthony Cirelli, Victor Hedman, and Corey Perry were also able to score one assist each for the Lightning.
In this match, Andrei Vasilevskiy was able to make 25 saves for the Lightning. Despite that, the Lightning have conceded nine goals in two games against the Rangers.
In the end, the Rangers defeated the Lightning 14-10 in the scoreless middle period.
Responses regarding the Rangers’ victory
According to Gallant, this victory is a big victory for the team. “This is a big win for us. But we are just preparing for the next game. The way we played the last two games is the way we should have done to win the draw,” Gallant said.
Gallant also thinks that the Rangers want to fight hard in the game, and so far, his team has competed to the maximum in every match.
On the other hand, the Lightning players also commented on the Rangers game. In this case, Fox considers that the Rangers’ game has been overcome by the Lightning.
“We did a great job, especially in the first two periods. We also didn’t make too many mistakes, in fact, we were able to make big saves at the end of the game,” Fox said.
In this regard, Fox also said that the Rangers have a good playoff record with no defeats in a row. Even so, the Lightning did not feel inferior to the achievements of the Rangers, so they still tried to show their maximum game.
The Lightning captain, Steven Stamkos, commented, “They are a skilled team that can beat their opponents.” Steven also admitted that his team had not been able to execute the match properly. However, he did find some momentum at the end of the match, which he had to hold onto for the next matches.
The Rangers are currently leading 2-0 over the Lightning in the NHL Conference Finals. These two teams will have another round of matches for Game 3 on Sunday and Game 4 on Tuesday.