No Mats Zuccarello. No Kevin Hayes. This is who the Rangers are for the remainder of the season, after shipping away fan favorites Zuccarello and Hayes and defenseman Adam McQuaid prior to Monday’s NHL trade deadline.
And in their first night together as the Rest-Of-The-Season Rangers, the Blueshirts took on the league’s top team, the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team with 100 points on the season through their first 63 games.
The new-look Rangers gave the Lightning all they could handle, but in the end, Tampa Bay’s talent was too much and the Lightning won 4-3, in overtime, when Victor Hedman scored with 1:35 left in the OT.