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Tampa Bay Lightning VS New York Rangers Game 1 Recap

Posted By: Lisa Donovan on 5/16/2015

The first period went back in forth. The Lightning had the momentum early, but the Rangers' stepped up near the end of this period. The Rangers' defensive lines made Henrik Lundqvist's job so much easier between the pipes in the 1st period.

The second period was pretty intense too. Both teams pushed each other to the limit with a lot of offense shots. Words could not describe the attrition that Lundqvist and Lightning goalie Ben Bishop endured with both goalies having to make constant saves.

It was impossible for the Rangers to score with Victor Hedman on the ice. Hedman is the Lightning's best defenseman so this doesn't come as a surprise.

People will tell you goalie is the most important position, but I think defense is the most important position. Todays game reinforced that fact as all 3 goals came off of poor execution by the defensive lines. I won't argue that the goaltending wasn't brilliant. Both goalies played their hearts out. If you look at all 3 goals, you can make the case that each goal is preventable if each player executes their assignments on the blue line.

The Lightning have 4 effective defensemen in Hedman, Anton Stralman, Brayden Coburn, and Matt Carle. Jason Garrison and Andrej Sustr are the two expendable defensemen on Tampa Bay's roster.

The Rangers first goal occurred with Derek Stepfan scoring off of a defensive line featuring Garrison and Sustr for the Lightning. I'm not surprised that Rangers scored a goal there when you consider that playing both Garrison and Sustr is foolish because those are the two worst defenseman on the roster. The goal should be to have Hedman, Stralman, Coburn, and Carle on the ice for every single line shift. You can rotate any defenseman with Victor Hedman. My biggest issue with this was the fact that Lightning were irresponsible by putting Garrison and Sustr on the ice.

The Lightning got a power play goal. Usually I prefer penalty killing and aggressive play over a team that dominates the power play. When a guy like team captain Ryan McDonagh heads to the penalty box, you will have a golden opportunity to score on the power play. The Lightning ceased that opportunity and tied that game at 1.

Until Tampa Bay scored that power play goal, the Rangers' defense was brilliant in the third period as the Lightning went over 6 minutes without a shot on goal. It looked like the Lightning had momentum in the game before the Rangers grabbed momentum.

This game felt like a game of tug of war up until the 3 minute mark. With 2:25 left in the game the Rangers scored to take a 2-1 lead thanks to Dominic Moore. Moore played like a power forward near the crease tapping the puck past Ben Bishop. The Rangers scored their second goal because Stralman and Carle were way too far out as both defensemen on the Lightning were near the attacking zone while the Rangers were right near the crease within inches of the net. When your defensemen are that far out and your opponent is so close to the goalie, you are going to find a way to score.

You can argue that goalies are more important than defense. When you see three evident plays like that on tape, that confirms that playing sound fundamental defense trumps having a good goaltender. Fortunately for these squads both teams have remarkable goaltenders. The Lightning are in a must win situation. Game 2 will air Monday Night. Comment below on which team steps up.

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