LIVE BLOG: Rangers @ Lightning – 4/2/10

Welcome to another live blog here at Broadway Hockey Daily. Tonight we’ll be posting live, as-they-happen thoughts and impressions during the 77th Ranger game of this 2009-2010 NHL season. The Rangers come into this one with 78 points through 76 games, while the Bolts have 74 points in 77 games.

10:00 PM – That does it for this one. It’s a 5-0 shutout for Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers, now just two points out of a playoff spot. The air kind of got let out of this one early on, but thanks for joining us here at Broadway Hockey Daily. Be sure to check back often as we keep you updated on everything happening with the Rangers. Good night!

9:58 PM – The Rangers go into tomorrow night’s 7 PM contest against the Florida Panthers tied with Atlanta for ninth place in the East, just two points back of both Philadelphia and Boston, who currently occupy the seventh and eighth playoff seeds.

9:55 PM – Another mini-breakaway for St. Louis, but Lundqvist calmly makes the stop with some pestering assistance from Dan Girardi on the backcheck. The fifth goal does indeed go to Voros.

9:52 PM – What a gift for the Rangers tonight, as the clock winds down on this one. For the second time in just over a week, the Rangers were simply given two points. They didn’t have to do much to get them tonight. The Lightning were out to lunch from the drop of the initial puck.

9:46 PM – 5-0, Rangers. The line of Voros, Locke and Drury apply a strong forecheck and the puck gets knocked in past Niittymaki. Looks like Aaron Voros will get the credit for the goal. An absolute nightmare game for Tampa. Terrible play in their own zone, especially in the corners.

9:40 PM – Tampa continues to struggle to make anything happen offensively. Another wasted power play opportunity.

9:34 PM – The Rangers are unable to convert on the power play. Instead, just after it concludes, Wade Redden takes down Vinny Lecavalier and gets sent to the box himself.

9:30 PM – Montreal holds on for a 1-0 victory over Philadelphia in a game that could have huge ramifications for the Rangers’ playoff hopes.

9:29 PM – Another man advantage for the Rangers, as Vladimir Mihalik gets called for roughing against Corey Locke. Both teams getting a little sloppy and a little lazy.

9:25 PM – Just like the last time, the Bolts aren’t getting much done on the power play. No movement, no rotation. Very stagnant and predictable. Easy kill for New York.

9:20 PM – Time for the beginning of the third period here, Rangers still up, 4-0.  The Dubinsky-Christensen-Gaborik line starts against Steve Stamkos, Steve Downie and Martin St. Louis. Gaborik, though, takes a quick penalty.

9:08 PM – With another game against the Panthers tomorrow night, a game like this, where the Rangers don’t have to necessarily push their hardest for 60 minutes, is just what the doctor ordered. Still playing without the trio of Ryan Callahan, Sean Avery and Brian Boyle, the Rangers can use as much rest as they can get.

9:05 PM – The second period comes to a close with the score remaining 4-0, in favor of the Blueshirts. The Rangers seem to be conserving their energy at this point against a Lightning team whose game can best be described as M.I.A. so far tonight.

9:03 PM – It was Tampa that got the best scoring chance during the Rangers’ power play, when Martin St. Louis found a brief moment alone in front of Lundqvist, but he was unable to convert.

8:59 PM – Michal Rozsival draws a tripping penalty on Alex Tanguay, so the Rangers will get another power play opportunity, their first of the period.

8:54 PM – Finally, some action. Bad positioning on the part of Dan Girardi gives the Bolts a couple of chances on front of the net, but Henrik Lundqvist comes through with a pair of saves.

8:51 PM – This has to be one of the more boring periods of Ranger hockey this season (and there have been quite a few). It’s just a bunch of guys chasing a puck around right now. The crowd is dead in the St. Pete Times Forum too, aside from an occasional boo here and there for the home team.

8:48 PM – The Rangers aren’t doing much in this second period. Just getting the puck deep and then kind of backing off, but it isn’t hurting them because the Lightning just aren’t doing anything.

8:42 PM – Terrible PP for the Lightning so far, as the Rangers kill of the two-man disadvantage. The Lightning couldn’t muster up even one shot on goal during the 5-on-3.

8:39 PM – Dubinsky fires the puck into the crowd from his own zone in an attempt to clear the zone, and it’ll put the Rangers down two men. Big chance here for Tampa, with over a minute of 5-on-3 time.

8:38 PM – Jody Shelley, who helped create the game’s opening goal, goes off for a penalty. That’ll give the Lightning a power play opportunity, one of the few things their team excels at. The Bolts are 8th in the league in power play percentage.

8:36 PM – Neither team doing very much here in the second period, with most of the play taking place in the neutral zone so far in the second period.

8:30 PM – Underway in the second period, and it is indeed Niittymaki in goal for Tampa. So far, the Lightning don’t seem to be playing with any added intensity.

8:22 PM – You have to imagine that it’ll be Antero Niittymaki in goal for Tampa when the action resumes, not Mike Smith. They need to do something to change the way this game is going.

8:18 PM – Just a thought as we wait for the second period to begin: for all of the criticism that John Tortorella has gotten this season in regards to his coaching strategy, or lack thereof, there can’t be many teams in this league that are as poorly coached as his former team, Tampa Bay. Their head coach, former NHLer Rick Tocchet, doesn’t seem like he’s instituted anything even resembling a system. The Tampa defense run around their own zone like chickens with their heads cut off. It’s an observation based on a number of games, not just this one, which obviously doesn’t help Tocchet’s case.

8:13 PM – A perfect first period for the Rangers comes to an end, the score 4-0. This game feels a lot like the Rangers’ 5-0 victory over the Islanders a little more than a week ago. Once again, another one of the league’s weakest teams is just not showing up to play against the Rangers. If the Rangers do end up making the post-season, it’ll be games like this, complete gimmes, that will have helped them do it.

8:11 PM – Anisimov very nearly made it 5-0, hitting the post with a turnaround wrister from just beside the goal.

8:07 PM – Everything went right for the Rangers last night, when all of the teams around them in the standings lost. Everything seems to be going right for them tonight, too. The Lightning are just giving these two points away at this point.

8:05 PM – Dubinsky will get credit for the Rangers’ fourth goal of the night, as #17 took a one-timer from the point that ricochets in off of Tampa defender Kurtis Foster. The power play goal makes it 4-0, Blueshirts.

8:03 PM – It’s Mezjaros who goes off for Tampa Bay, and gives the Rangers an enormous opportunity to put the game out of reach very early.

8:00 PM – The Rangers will get a PP, after the best scoring chance that Corey Locke has had in four periods of play as a Ranger. Chris Drury drove to the net and drew the penalty just as Locke’s wrister from the slot was covered up by Tampa goalie Mike Smith.

7:58 PM – Just like that, 3-0 Rangers. After a P.A. Parenteau dump in, the Lightning cough the puck up behind their own net, and the Rangers throw the puck on net, where it bounces off a Tampa skate and past the goaltender. Credit the goal to former Bolt Vinny Prospal, his 19th of the year.

7:57 PM – So far, the only member of the Lightning that has been able to bring the puck into the Rangers zone with any kind of effectiveness has been Teddy Purcell, a young player acquired by Tampa from the L.A. Kings at the trade deadline.

7:55 PM – Tampa has really slowed the pace down, but kudos to the Rangers. They’re forechecking is giving the Lighting blueliners all sorts of trouble.

7:53 PM – The Rangers catch a lucky break. Wade Redden fell down in his own zone, leaving a juicy turnover for the Lighting, but the Bolts just didn’t have the numbers to make anything happen.

7:51 PM – Nice chance for Gaborik as he turns into the slot off the midboards and let a wrister go.

7:48 PM – As always, despite the big early lead, the Rangers need to show they can sustain a lead throughout a game. It could be particularly difficult against a team with as much firepower as the Bolts. Every time Stamkos touches the puck, you get the feeling he might just roof it right there.

7:46 PM – Brandon Prust also scored, off an assist from Artem Anisimov. Big start for the Rangers, as play stops so that the TB medical staff can attend to the injured Steve Downie.

7:46 PM – Marc Staal with another goal, his second in the last two games. Nice to see some offense continue to creep into the young blueliner’s repertoire.

7:45 PM – Three minutes in, and the Rangers have a two-goal lead. Some technical difficulties here at blog HQ, but we’re all set now.

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