It’s just the second game of the season, but history was made as Igor Shesterkin became the first Rangers netminder to score a goal. It capped off a strong 5-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning and quickly erased memories of the opening night shutout loss to the Bruins.

But the night really belonged to Shesterkin, who once again looked strong in net as he turned aside 24 of the shots he faced. The only one that beat him deflected in off of the stick of Noah Laba as he attempted to intercept a centering net by Nikita Kucherov. Per NaturalStatTrick.com he faced an expected Goals For of 3.08, but allowed only 1, a stark contrast to Andrei Vasilevskiy’s 4 allowed against a 2.21 xGF.

A LONG TIME COMING

It’s certainly not the first time that Shesterkin has attempted a goal. From the very start of his NHL career in the 2019-20 season, his superior stick handling and caused people to speculate on when, not if he’d become the first for the Rangers. With the Lightning trailing 4-1 midway through the third and on the power play, Tampa coach Jon Cooper made the bold move to pull his netminder. You could see even then that Shesterkin was considering it.

He’d have to wait longer though as the Lightning played desperate hockey and denied the Rangers chances. Vasilevskiy would return, and again leave several times, even skating back to the net on a change in an unusual move later in the third.

With the clock winding down inside the final three minutes Shesterkin finally got his opportunity and made sure that the game would be put out of reach for good.

The goal prompted the bench to empty out on the ice, in scenes more reminiscent of a playoff clinching victory that an early regular season game. The MSG crowd broke into almost continuous chants of I-GOR, and the Rangers sealed their first victory of the season in emphatic fashion.

It was a good game, and a good night.

DOROFEYEV MAKES HIS MARK

Much is expected of the Rangers highest profile acquisition this year. After putting up seasons of 35 and then 37 goals over the past two seasons in Vegas, Dorofeyev was brought in to inject much needed offense. Last night he gave a glimpse of that, setting up the first Rangers goal and converting to put them up 2-0 midway through the first, in what would prove to be the game winner.

He could easily have scored both, with his first hard shot ringing off the cross bar and caroming to Mika Zibanejad to finish. Then he converted on a 2 on 1 after Oliver Bjorkstrand forced a neutral zone turnover and broke in with his line mate, setting him up with a nice feed for the quick conversion.

The goals capped off a strong start to the game for the Rangers, in which they dominated the first few shifts before settling into their game. It allowed them to go into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead, which would become 3-0 just 1:40 into the third thanks to another newcomer, Eeli Tolvanen.

With Will Cuylle driving to the net, Tolvanen threw the puck in front and had it deflect in off the defender. Cuylle initially took credit for the goal, and there was a Tampa timeout to allow the team a little longer to see if there might have been any goaltender interference. For once, fortune was on Cuylle’s side and Jon Cooper declined to challenge. The goal stood, albeit switched to Tolvanen on review.

UNLUCKY LABA

Noah Laba had an unlucky night. He did pick up an assist on the Tolvanen goal, but ended up deflecting in the lone Tampa goal. Kucherov was behind the net and goal line and fed the puck back in front. Laba tried to settle it, but saw it go off the heel and into the net with Shesterkin defending against the post.

He would end up taking two penalties as well, including a delay of game in the third when the puck rolled on him. Adam Fox still had three seconds remaining on his penalty, but it meant the Rangers played a man short for 3:57 with the Lightning looking to get back into the game.

They never managed to beat Shesterkin again, but Laba will be hoping that he’ll avoid a repeat going forward.

PERREAULT GETS IN ON THE ACTION

Rounding out the scoring last night, a beautiful deflection from the slot by Gabe Perreault. We all have big expectations on the kid this year – or most of us do – and that type of play was a confident, and skilled shot that Adam Fox setup perfectly. More of this please sirs.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

We saw a bit of it in the preseason, and it may take some while to correct it. The number of penalties the Rangers took was just too many. Seven in total, and sure there was a couple of questionable calls, but you want to avoid offensive zone and unnecessary penalties. Fair to say there’s more than one in that lot last night that fit those categories. Fortunately Tampa didn’t cash in, but that’s not going to be the case every night.

Overall though, a good night and a great result. The Rangers just need to be able to establish some consistency and then maintain it. You seldom remember the games at the start of the season, and likely the only thing we’ll ever remember about this game is Igor Shesterkin’s goal.