New York Rangers victory marks the end of Vasilevskiy incredible Streak

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Joshua Deeds
June 4, 2022 (7:13)

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Game 2 of the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers series was contentious until the very end. Nick Paul put Tampa Bay within 1 to tie the Rangers, but the Lightning weren't able to capitalize upon it. K'Andre Miller opened up the scoring Kapo Kakko followed, and Mika Zibanejad closing game 2 out with the 3rd goal of the night.

Since the 2020 playoffs began, no goalie has appeared in as many playoff games or has won as many playoff games as Vasilevskiy. He's been in net for all of Tampa's 59 games, with a 42-17 record, a goals-against-average of 1.96, and a save percentage of .932.

The Rangers handily ended this streak tonight, putting the Rangers 2-0 over the defending champions.

The Rangers' offense has been highly charged and capable of beating the Penguins, and Hurricanes and it looks like they have a chance to end this in 4 if they keep playing as they have been.

The first of those shutouts came in Game 6 of the 2020 Stanley Cup Finals, where he posted a 22 save shutout in a 2-0 victory over the Dallas Stars, giving Tampa Bay their first cup since 2004. In the following playoffs, Vasilevskiy posted a shutout in each series-clinching game. Posting a clean sheet against the Panthers in Game 6 of the first round, in Game 5 of the semi-finals against Carolina, against the Islanders in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals, and another 22 save shutout in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals against the Montreal Canadiens, on route to winning the Conn Smythe Trophy

This should signify the fact that Gerard Gallant has a huge buy-in from his players, that he trusts the Kid Line to do their job and do it correctly, as Chytil and Kakko lit up the scoreboard once tonight, Chytil assisting.

Of course, there's coach Jon Cooper has one losing record over his 10-year coaching career and has a win percentage of .714 since the 2020 playoffs. He doesn't need a bucketload of Jack Adams awards to show his value � he has the rings to prove it.

It turns out other than the Columbus Blue Jackets, the New York Rangers have shown that the Tampa Bay Lightning, are in fact human and a three-peat may be out of the question, with Copp, Vatrano, and their secondary scoring in-tow with Miller able to skate and shoot with the best of them.