Lightning even series against NY Rangers, Filip Chytil injured
The NY Rangers had two chances to put a strong grip on this series. Instead they lost both Games 3 and 4 to head back to Madison Square Garden even at two games each.
To make matters worse, Ryan Strome was unable to play due to a lower-body injury suffered on Sunday. Despite taking warm-ups, the pain was too much for him leading to a scratch.
Then Filip Chytil took a solid hit by Victor Hedman late in the second period knocking him out of the game with an upper-body injury.
“Strome is day-to-day and hopefully ready to go Thursday night,” Gerard Gallant updated. “Fil left in the second period, he should be fine. But we’ll have to wait and see.”
Game 5 is scheduled for Thursday night.
Recap: Lightning 3 vs Rangers 1
The Lightning jumped out to an early lead when Pat Maroon came in unchecked and flipped a rebound over the extended glove of Igor Shesterkin. That tally came 2:38 into the period.
Despite outshooting Tampa by a 10-8 margin, the Rangers did not get any high danger chances and very little zone time. It was a theme throughout the game.
In the second period, Gerard Gallant was looking for a spark. He swapped Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin to try to get the latter going. His move may have worked from a shots perspective (12-7), but a neutral zone turnover led to a Nikita Kucherov breakaway tally to make it 2-0.
Filip Chytil injured
The biggest blow came late in the middle frame with Chytil being taken into the boards hard by Hedman. New York’s young center lingered on the bench but then headed to locker room unable to return.
“We like the depth of our team,” Jacob Trouba said regarding injuries. “We’ve got to be able to play without them.”
Tampa took the game over completely in the third period.
Steven Stamkos scored the back-breaker 4:56 in by burying an Ondrej Palat shot that Shesterkin gave up a big rebound on. For the Rangers, they were once again outmanned and out-hustled in their own zone.
Panarin would score a power play goal with 3:33 left to end Andrei Vasilevskiy’s shutout bid. The marker came with Shesterkin pulled.
Palat eventually sealed the game with an empty-net goal. Vasilevskiy finished the contest with 33 saves.
“They did the right thing to win a hockey game,” Gallant said. “They paid a price.”
Notable Rangers
- Igor Shesterkin stopped 26 of 29 shots
- Artemi Panarin registered his 6th goal of the postseason
Tomorrow (Wednesday, June 8): TBD
Next Game: Thursday, June 9 vs. Tampa Bay Lightning – Game 5 (8:00 PM – TV: ESPN)
*Schedule subject to change
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