Bobby Bevilacqua

It was a chippy, fast, high scoring game at the Amalie Arena. And the Lightning came away with a 6-5 win in overtime. Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.

In a wild back and forth game between at Amalie Arena, it was Tampa Bay that came out on top, scoring a shocking goal in overtime to ward off a Rangers comeback, and come out on top with a 6-5 overtime victory. Prior to this loss, the Rangers were 60-0-0 since the 2010-11 season when scoring five goals, in both the regular season and playoffs, yet they could not get the win tonight.

For the second consecutive game, the Rangers’ defense was atrocious. Tampa Bay’s forwards and defensemen just walked through the Rangers at the blue line, out shot and out chanced New York, and had more shot attempts. The defense did nothing at all to help out Lundqvist or the rest of the team, missing defensive assignments, giving up bad turnovers and allowing too many high scoring chances.

The problem in this game is that the Rangers are getting into a track meet. The game is way too wide open for them to keep up with the Tampa Bay Lightning forwards, especially with all of the speed and skill that they have. The Rangers would be better off controlling the pace of play, limiting the speed of the Lightning forwards, and using their quickness when the ice opens up for them. Read the rest of this entry →