Ex-Rangers defenseman helps Lightning sink his old team with clutch goal
TAMPA — Ryan McDonagh is the type of defenseman every team needs. He’s smart, solid in his own zone, a mentor for younger players, provides leadership, has championship pedigree and chips in a little offense now and then.
Unfortunately for the New York Rangers, they no longer have him – and the Tampa Bay Lightning do.
The Rangers dealt McDonagh, who was in his fourth season as their captain, to the Lightning in March 2018. He was a key to Tampa Bay’s championship runs in 2020 and 2021, as well as their trip to the 2022 Stanley Cup Final. The Lightning traded him to the Nashville Predators in the summer of 2022 but re-acquired him this past summer – and they’re glad they did.
McDonagh still averages more than 20 minutes of ice time at age 35 — although doesn’t contribute offensively the way he did in his prime, when he’d generate 35-40 points a season. His first goal this season came Saturday night against the Rangers, when his shorthanded tally late in the first period put Tampa Bay ahead to stay in what turned out to be a 6-2 win over his old team at Amalie Arena.
“We’re extremely fortunate that we had a chance to get him back,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said postgame of McDonagh, who had 238 points (51 goals, 187 assists) in 518 regular-season games on Broadway. “I think he’s one of those guys you look at, you can sit in the stands or look from the vantage point of another team and think ‘good, solid player.’ But when you have him in your room, you really understand what you have.”
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Ryan McDonagh’s goal sparks Lightning to 6-2 win against Rangers
The shortie, McDonagh’s first since 2016-17 with the Rangers, came on a shot off the rush that Igor Shesterkin should have stopped and spoiled what had been New York’s best period in the last couple of weeks. The Rangers outshot the Lightning 17-6 and had 30 shot attempts to 14 for Tampa Bay in that first period. But instead of going into the locker room even on the scoreboard, the Rangers trailed 2-1 because of McDonagh’s goal and spent the rest of the night unsuccessfully chasing the game.
“It’s kind of a back-breaker for the PP,” McDonagh said of his goal and a second shorthanded tally later against the Rangers by teammate Anthony Cirelli early in the middle period.
Rangers coach Peter Laviolette felt McDonagh’s goal was a turning point.
“We were really good in the first period,” Laviolette said. “If you look at the way the guys played, the chances and shots and the way we defended, we come in and we’re regrouping and we’re down 2-1. That was tough.
“The start was where it needed to be, but the score didn’t reflect it.”
McDonagh agreed that the Rangers dominated everywhere but on the scoreboard in the first 20 minutes.
“It was a ton of shots against, and obviously not really the recipe we want to play, as far as being consistent and being tough to play against defensively,” he said. “We gave them a lot of looks and kind of struggled in our own zone, and give them credit, they pressured hard.”
Instead, the Lightning put the game away with three goals in the first 8:08 of the second period. McDonagh finished the night plus-1 in 20:12 of ice time – just under his season average of 20:28. He scored the shorthanded goal and blocked a team-high four shots.
Though McDonagh has just 10 points (one goal, nine assists) this season, he leads the Lightning in plus-minus at plus-21. That shouldn’t be a surprise – he is plus-267 in 961 regular-season games and has never finished lower than plus-7 for a full season (50 or more games played). Good things happen when he’s on the ice.
With the Rangers reeling – they are 4-14-0 after a 12-4-1 start and have dropped to last in the Metropolitan Division standings – they could use a player like McDonagh to eat minutes on the blue line in a defense-first role and contribute as a leader. Instead, they had to watch him do those things for a team that looks certain to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs yet again, and perhaps win the Atlantic Division.
Cooper said McDonagh continues to be the kind of steady, consistent contributor every team needs.
“The impressive thing for me is that he gets older by age but his game hasn’t seemed to decline,” he said. “He’s been a stabilizing force for us back there. I think he’s really helped our (defense) corps, and I think our record (20-11-2) is a little bit of a byproduct of that.”
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