Rangers exorcise last years MSG demons with resounding home-opener win over Lightning
If this season ends up being different for the Rangers, if, by the middle of April and the end of the 84-game marathon, they end up finding themselves on the right side of the playoff cutline, then Thursday — with just over two minutes left, when nearly half of the Rangers’ bench spilled onto the ice to celebrate Igor Shesterkin’s empty-net goal — will serve as the lasting image for when it all started to shift.Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mollie Walker about the inside buzz on the Rangers.
Because throughout their 5-1 win against the Lightning, who, for the better part of the last eight years, have served as an Eastern Conference measuring stick, on Thursday, the blueprint for this iteration of the Blueshirts emerged.They exorcised their Garden woes from last season.
The newcomers — both the hyped and the under-the-radar additions — contributed.All four lines generated chances.
All three defensive pairings limited the Tampa Bay opportunities.Shesterkin was Shesterkin and even managed the first goalie goal in franchise history to boot.And behind goals from Mika Zibanejad, Pavel Dorofeyev, Eeli Tolvanen, Gabe Perreault and, of course, Shesterkin, the Rangers (1-1-0) secured their first win of the season and, for at least one night inside a lively Garden, made their home struggles from last season an afterthought to the tune of a statement victory.The Garden fans, which begged Shesterkin to shoot at the empty net earlier in the third, erupted as the puck bounced off the end boards, off his stick and down the ice.
Teammates engulfed him near the boards.It took until the Rangers’ fifth game at the Garden last year to score their fifth home goal.Their goal drought hit 180:57 to start the year, and, in a way, it foreshadowed what followed the rest of the year — with the Blueshirts winning just 14 games at their home rink.
The Rangers’ veterans and Mike Sullivan all echoed a similar ...