Lightning 2 – Rangers 3 | The doubt in the head of the Lightning

This is certainly not the scenario that the members of the Lightning had planned.

Richard Labbe
The Press

Oh no. Because often, very often, the Lightning guys have a habit of chaining a bad performance with a very good performance. But that’s not what happened on that little Friday night at MSG, which instead ended with a victory for Rangers, by a score of 3-2.

Glass half full for the Tampa Bay training: this time, at least, it was not so bad. Losing 3-2 is not like losing 6-2, and if it is, the visitors were able to fight until the last siren this time around.

The trouble for the visitors, of course, is that a loss is a loss, and then now they have to return to Florida while trailing 0-2 in this series. It’s not ideal, you will agree.

But what the Rangers have just achieved is not trivial. The so-called Blue Shirts took the opportunity to pull off a fourth straight win, and then also, and more importantly, they won the first two games of this series, both featured in their beloved Manhattan. .

There is more, it must be emphasized: the Rangers have just placed the defending champions in a precarious position, and in addition, they have just sown a very solid doubt in their collective heads, which very few teams have been able to manage to do for two years in this league.

We must take the opportunity here to remember that the Lightning guys had not escaped two consecutive playoff games since this sweep suffered against the Columbus Blue Jackets during the 2019 playoffs.

Is this series already over, and incidentally, can we suggest to the Lightning players that it might be time to think about the holidays, and to book tickets for the water slides of the Granby Zoo? No, no, we’re not going there. Not now, and not right away.

But for the Lightning players, it’s at least time to face this reality: in their dominance of the last two seasons, they have never been more vulnerable.

The Rangers still have two victories to go, and the challenge promises to be daunting. But they have just placed the Lightning in the worst territory there is: that of doubt.

It remains to be seen if there is still a little gas left in the Lightning’s tank. The next game, and the third in this series, is Sunday afternoon in Florida. For the club’s players in the flash, it would probably be a very good idea to go home and win this match, and then the next one too, one shot.

Otherwise we will have to stop talking about a dynasty…