New York goaltender Igor Shesterkin stopped 24 shots and scored his first career goal, Pavel Dorofeyev and Mika Zibanejad notched a goal and an assist apiece, and the Rangers entered the win column for the first time in their 2026-27 home opener by routing the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1 on Thursday.
Shesterkin capped a spectacular night by gathering a rebound and flipping a rink-long shot into an empty net with 2:34 left for the first goalie goal in the 100-year history of the Original Six club.
Starting 0-6-1 on home ice last season and being shut out five times and winless until Nov. 10, the Eastern Conference’s last-place club a season ago had goals from Eeli Tolvanen and Gabe Perreault. Adam Fox dished two assists.
In their first meaningful match since losing 2-1 on home ice in Game 7 to the Montreal Canadiens in the postseason’s first round in May, the Lightning got a goal from Nikita Kucherov.
Ilya Mikheyev recorded an assist for his first point with his new club, but the Lightning were 0-for-7 on the power play. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 20 shots.
With one game under its belt, albeit a 3-0 shutout loss Tuesday at the Boston Bruins, New York struck in the first period on the power play when Zibanejad hit an open net for the home side’s first tally this season at 5:34.
Just after New York killed a power play, Oliver Bjorkstrand, who played the previous two seasons in Tampa, beat new defenseman John Carlson on a breakaway and fed Dorofeyev for his first Rangers tally at 10:51.
An early hard pinch in New York’s offensive zone allowed Tolvanen to charge the net from Vasilevskiy’s left and pass a puck through the crease. It bounced in off Lightning defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous for a 3-0 lead and Tolvanen’s first tally in a red, white and blue jersey.
The visitors answered with their own fortunate bounce when Kucherov’s backhanded pass caromed off New York’s Noah Laba to cut it to 3-1 just under eight minutes in.
The Metropolitan Division club rounded out the period’s scoring when Perreault angled in Fox’s pass into the slot to regain the 3-goal lead with four minutes left.
In the third, the Lightning pulled Vasilevskiy twice for a 6-on-4 advantage but could not convert before Shesterkin’s tally electrified the crowd in the evening’s loudest moment.
