The Tampa Bay Lightning dominated the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday night, and earned an impressive 5-1 victory as a result. Two goals from Ryan Callahan, the former Rangers captain, pushed the Bolts towards their second straight win.
Arguably their best performance of the season, the Lightning managed to take advantage of a New York team that has really struggled to start the year. The shot clock tells a story with its 30-16 count, but so does the following even-strength Fenwick chart:
That’s what total domination looks like.
With emotions in the building high, Tampa came out in the first period with speed and purpose. Their hard work paid off just 6:50 into the game when Nikita Kucherov scored his seventh goal of the season with help from Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat. Only seconds after former Bolt captain Marty St. Louis missed on a breakaway at one end, Kucherov skated in alone on Henrik Lundqvist and made no mistake.
That 1-0 lead turned into a two goal advantage less than eight minutes later, as Callahan scored his first of two on the night. On the power play, Callahan took a disgustingly good feed from Steven Stamkos and tapped the puck home with ease.
As one tweeter put it…
As if the script wasn’t already good enough, Marty St. Louis opened the second period with a power play goal of his own. His shot, 32 seconds into the middle frame, deflected off Jason Garrison and past Ben Bishop. It counted just the same, and gave St. Louis his seventh of the campaign.
Just as it looked like the Rangers were seizing momentum, thanks in large part to a slew of power plays early in that second period, the Bolts answered back and took control. Sprung free on a breakaway at the 14:08 mark, Steven Stamkos scored his 12th of the year to put the Bolts up 3-1.
They weren’t done there. Moments after a Jonathan Drouin ‘goal’ was called off because Alex Killorn impeded Lundqvist, Killorn redeemed himself with his third, from Johnson and Palat. That made it a 4-1 game heading into the third period, and all but put the Rangers to sleep.
As the Garden emptied out steadily through the final stanza, the Rangers failed to generate much. Rather than sit back and let New York control possession and the flow of play, Tampa stuck to their game; the aforementioned possession chart if evidence of that. The third period’s only goal came off the stick of Callahan, who dangled the puck past Lundqvist for his second of the night and eighth of the year. It was a return to MSG that he won’t soon forget.
To make things even better for the Tampa fans that still feel sour about St. Louis’s departure, the former captain earned himself a shiny minus-four rating in the game. That was complemented by an even-strength Corsi percentage of 42%. While Callahan shined with two goals and a 75% (!) even-strength Corsi rating, St. Louis had his ups and downs.
Stepping back from the specifics, it’s worth noting that the Lightning made their path to victory look very easy. They limited the Rangers’s chances and did so with precision. That should serve them well, as they’ll be on the island tomorrow for a tilt with the Islanders. It’s a chance for them to build on what transpired tonight, and perhaps even move into first place in the NHL standings.
As always, thanks for reading.
Michael Stuart has been the Tampa Bay Lightning writer for HockeyBuzz since 2012. Visit his archive to read more or follow him on Twitter. 
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