By Michela Arlia
“No Quit In New York,” a slogan that dominates Madison Square Garden during the hockey season, rang true when the New York Rangers took home a win for their season opener against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday, Oct. 11.
To kick off their 96th season, NHL’s Original 6 team defeated last year’s Stanley Cup finalists Tampa Lightning 3-1 in a highly anticipated rematch of last May’s Eastern Conference Finals won by the Lightning in six games.
Unable to clinch the title as Eastern Conference champs this past spring, this Rangers win served as a glimpse to what a game 6 victory could have looked like for the New York team.
During opening night, defenseman Jacob Trouba was named the 29th New York Rangers Captain – a solid choice for a leader by the organization. After the entire Rangers roster was introduced, things got off to an awkward start as referee Chris Rooney announced the NHL’s season opener on the loudspeaker from the center ice faceoff circle. This was not commonplace in previous years, but a warm welcome to the new season nonetheless.
Once underway, the match was instantly full of speed, power, teamwork, and some nifty goals.
Leading in scoring for the night was centerman Mika Zibanejad with two goals. His first of the game, giving the Rangers a 1-0 lead, came as a short handed goal at 3:25 in the second period.
Later in the second, the Rangers got into some penalty trouble, and Tampa Bay center Steven Stamkos took advantage, tying the game 1-1 during a five-on-three power play.
In a quick turn of events, and giving the team a 2-1 lead on a power play in the third period, 29 year old Zibanejad became the first player since Adam Graves in the late 1990’s to score a shorthanded and power play goal in the same game on opening night.
Goaltender Igor Shesterkin made 25 saves in the game as center Barclay Goodrow furthered the team’s lead to 3-1, eleven minutes into the third.
On the heels of their opening night win, the Rangers went on to defeat Minnesota Wild two nights later in a crushing 7-3 final score where 10 Rangers players scored at least a point.
Following the 7 goal night against the Wild, head coach Gerard Gallant said in a statement just how strong this year’s lineups are.
“That’s what we see with our lineup,” commented the coach. “There’s a lot of skill and talent there, and as long as we work hard, we’ll get scoring from all over the place.”
The two consecutive win high for the Broadway Blueshirts immediately came to an end the next night in the Winnipeg Jets home opener, where they lost 4-1.
The club started their season off strong and have long ways to go before an expected playoff’s berth. It’s just three games in, but their solid start can hopefully propel Gallant and his players to pull off another solid playoff run to hopefully raise Lord Stanley’s Cup in the spring.