Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 37: New York Rangers’ center depth takes another hit as the Tampa Bay Lightning win Game 4

Scott Maxwell
Scott Maxwell
Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 37: New York Rangers’ center depth takes another hit as the Tampa Bay Lightning win Game 4
Credit: © Nathan Ray Seebeck

It seemed like the Tampa Bay Lightning were out of the series after trailing 2-0 and being down 2-0 at one point of Game 3 to the New York Rangers. It’s amazing what a comeback can do to you, as it’s a completely different Lightning team in the Eastern Conference Final, which they made clear in a decisive 4-1 victory in Game 4.

The game was barely underway when we already got the first goal of the game. The playoffs are known for greasy goals and highlights from depth players, but this goal might be one of the best in that regard. Zach Bogosian jumped up on the rush and made a couple of nifty dangles to get a shot on net, and Pat Maroon floated the rebound past Igor Shesterkin to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead.

After that, it was back-and-forth action for the rest of the period, although none of the chances would amount to a goal. The closest we got to another goal was this two-on-one with Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov, but Stamkos opted to shoot it and Shesterkin made the easy glove save.

That scoring lull continued into the second, although this time the Rangers pressuring more and more to get that tying goal. The intensity grew even more when Brandon Hagel gave Frank Vatrano a shove, and the two dropped the gloves.

That seemed to get the Tampa Bay bench fired up, as just a couple of minutes later, Ondrej Palat made a great pass to spring Kucherov, and he scored to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead.

A bad situation got even worse for the Rangers in the third period. Already without Ryan Strome, who was injured in Game 3, their center depth took an even bigger hit as Filip Chytil didn’t return for the third period after an awkward collision into the boards courtesy of Victor Hedman.

And it kept piling on for the Rangers. Early in the third period, the Lightning got some pressure in the zone, and Shesterkin put a rebound off a Palat shot right on the stick of a wide open Stamkos, and he buried it to increase the Bolts lead to 3-0.

The Rangers needed to get back in this game, and a late power play did just that. Artemi Panarin corralled a rebound and found an opening to score and give New York their first of the night.

But, that was all they could manage. Palat sealed the deal for the Lightning with an empty net goal, and Tampa Bay got the 4-1 win, tying the series 2-2.

That empty net goal for Palat capped off an excellent night for the winger as well, with three points, and he’s now up to 13 points in 13 games. He’s an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, so a run like this will definitely boost his salary. Andrei Vasilevskiy also had a great night, stopping 33 of the 34 shots he faced on the night.

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