The Stanley Cup Eastern Conference final between the Rangers and the reigning champions Tampa Bay Lightning was a big one.
Seven years ago, the teams crossed paths at a similar stage of the playoffs, and then Tampa won in a bitter struggle - 4-3.
The club from New York was eager to take revenge, although since then its composition has changed a lot.
And the first match of the series, held on the ice of Madison Square Garden, ended in a crushing victory for the hosts with a score of 6:2.
At the same time, it cannot be said that the opponent played much worse.
Wards of John Cooper made more shots (39 vs. 34), but only twice managed to break through Igor Shesterkin, who caught the courage.
“We had great goalkeeping, good opportunities to use scoring chances, and we didn’t miss them,” Rangers mentor Gerard Gallan was quoted as saying by the official NHL website.
The Russian had a lot of work in the final period, in which he made 17 saves and never conceded.
Along the way, the goalkeeper became the author of an unusual achievement: for him this is the seventh consecutive home victory in the Stanley Cup.
The last time this was possible for the former goaltender of “Chicago” Corey Crawford in 2014.
The record streak belongs to Marc-Andre Fleury (nine victories with Pittsburgh in 2008).
But the goalkeeper of the guests Andrei Vasilevsky did not have the best meeting: having conceded six goals, he repeated his own anti-record in the playoffs.
However, you should not blame him for all the troubles.
Even John Cooper stood up for the ward: "We could have put both goalkeepers in the goal, but we would have missed it anyway."
Moreover, the Russian has recorded several good saves in his asset.
What is the incredible shield save after throwing Ryan Strome at point-blank range.
The whole team failed the match.
Perhaps the Lightning players simply lost their game rhythm after a long downtime.
After all, Tampa held the last meeting on May 23 and has been resting since then.
The opponent went out on the ice on the 30th and, in addition, was extremely motivated.
“They have some energetic players who, if you give them a finger, they will bite off your whole arm.
This is what happened today.
We must give them their due.
Good team.
It is no coincidence that they achieved such results in this playoff, ”complained Cooper.
The hosts opened the score in the match - at the 71st second, Chris Kreider flashed Vasilevsky with his first throw.
However, Steven Stamkos quickly equalized the score.
The guests entered into high pressure, took away the puck and brought the matter to a scoring shot.
However, if in the first period the teams acted quite carefully and tried to leave each other a minimum of space, then in the second game segment, double-edged hockey began, in which the Rangers' fast forwards gained an advantage.
In the middle of the period, the opponents again exchanged washers.
Ondrej Palat responded to Frank Vatrano's goal with a five-kopeck shot.
After that, the New Yorkers were unstoppable.
Before the break, Filip Chitil, who scored a brace, came to the fore.
First, he delivered an accurate shot after an excellent pass from Kaapo Kakko from behind the gate, and then left no chance for Vasilevsky, being in the right face-off circle.
“When you don’t score goals, you don’t really help the team and you may start to feel annoyed, but now the goals are gone,” the striker, who had five goals in the last three matches, rejoiced after the game.
In the final twenty-minute period, Artemy Panarin finally managed to shine, who had not been very noticeable before.
The game did not have time to resume, as the hosts took away the puck from the opponents in the middle zone and organized a swift attack.
Andrew Kopp, together with Panarin, ran two in two, and the American did not spare the puck for his partner.
And in the 47th minute, the Russian striker scored the eighth assist in the current playoffs and helped Mika Zibanejad to realize the majority.
Panarin has already scored 13 (5 + 8) points in this draw and bypassed compatriot Alexei Zhitnik in the list of top scorers in the history of the Stanley Cup.
In total, Artemy has 41 points, and according to this indicator, he is in 18th place in the ranking among Russians.
But the Tampa striker Nikita Kucherov again did not have the best match.
In the second game in a row, he was left without goals, although he made seven shots and received the most time from the forwards of the team - 23 minutes 16 seconds.
Perhaps, he missed the only real chance to excel when the score was 1:1, when he miraculously missed an empty net from a couple of meters after the transfer of a partner.
In this situation, even Shesterkin could not help out the owners.
Interestingly, the Lightning have never beaten the Rangers this season.
In the regular championship, Gallan's wards won three victories, and now they have achieved a defeat in the playoffs.
However, the mentioned series in 2015 was also successfully started by the club from New York, but it all ended with the success of Tampa, so the team should not relax.