Lightning Layoff Looms Large As They Lose Game 1 To Rangers 6-2

@jayRecher

Filip Chytil scored a pair of goals and Igor Shesterkin made 37 saves as the New York Rangers defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2 on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden to take a 1-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference Final.

It was the first game for Tampa Bay in nine days and as the game progressed, it showed.

The game was 1-1 after twenty minutes, 2-2 at the midway point of the contest, but then the Rangers kicked it into overdrive.

Chytil scored the first of his two goals at 10:09 of the 2nd after his line with Kaapo Kakko & Alexis Lafreniere spent a long period of time in the Lightning zone; and then his second at 15:43 seemed to take all the wind out of the sails of Tampa Bay.

Artemi Panarin scored 30 seconds into the 3rd period to add to the lead. Mika Zibanejad added a power play tally at 6:06 to close the scoring.

New York jumped out to an early lead when Chris Kreider scored just 71 seconds into the game.

Ryan McDonagh stepped up at the red line to put a hit on Frank Vatrano, but that sprung Kreider & Zibanejad to a 2-on-1. Zibanejad faked the shot, passed it to Kreider, and New York's All Star winger snapped one past Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to put the Blueshirts up 1-0.

The Bolts were not to be denied, and they found the equalizer just over six minutes later.

After some fantastic work in the offensive zone, Jan Rutta found the captain Steven Stamkos for a one-time laser over the blocker of Shesterkin to tie the score at 1-1 at 7:18.

Tampa Bay seemed to be getting the better of the scoring chances for the remainder of the period, but the score stayed the same after twenty minutes of play.

Frank Vatrano scored at 7:50 of the 2nd to give New York the lead once again, but again the Lightning answered when Ondrej Palat fired home a rebound just 42 seconds later to tie it at two.

This had the makings of a heavyweight bout, but the Bolts just could not keep answering the bell after Chytil found the back of the net.

Vasilevskiy wasn't his usual sharp self -- expect a much better performance in Game 2 -- stopping 28 of the 34 shots he saw on the evening.

*****

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Period

1. New York - Kreider - (Zibanejad, Vatrano) - 1:11
2. Tampa Bay - Stamkos - (Rutta, Cirelli) - 7:18

2nd Period

1. New York - Vatrano - (Fox) - 7:50
2. Tampa Bay - Palat - (Stamkos, Sergachev) - 8:32
3. New York - Chytil - (Kakko, Lafreniere) - 10:09
4. New York - Chytil (2) - (Miller, Lafreniere) - 15:43

3rd Period

1. New York - Panarin - (Copp, Trouba) - 0:30
2. New York - Zibanejad - (Panarin, Fox) - 6:06

*****

PENALTY SUMMARY

1st Period

1. New York - Hagel - (Holding) - 16:49

2nd Period

NONE

3rd Period

1. New York - Braun - (Tripping) - 1:04
2. Tampa Bay - Killorn - (Holding) - 4:37
3. New York - Miller - (Holding) 8:28
4. Tampa Bay - Maroon - (Roughing) - 8:14
5. Tampa Bay - Foote - (Roughing) - 8:14
6. Tampa Bay - McDonagh - (Roughing) - 8:14
7. Tampa Bay - Bellemare - (Roughing) - 8:14
8. Tampa Bay - Hagel - (Roughing) - 8:14
9. New York - Reaves - (Roughing) - 8:14
10. New York - Motte - (Roughing) - 8:14
11. New York - Goodrow - (Roughing) - 8:14
12. New York - Schneider - (Roughing) - 8:14
13. New York - Braun - (Roughing) - 8:14
14. New York - Goodrow - (Cross Checking) - 18:14

*****

What's Next For The Bolts : The Lightning are back in action on Friday night as they return to Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Rangers in Game 2 of this Eastern Conference Final matchup. Puck drop is slated for 8:00pm with the pregame show starting at 7:00pm on NewsRadio WFLA & Lightning Power Play on the iHeartRadio app.

PHOTO : Getty Images