The New York Rangers survived a hurricane to reach the Eastern Conference Final, and they prevented a lightning strike in Game 1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, posting a 6-2 win.
It was a dominant performance from the Rangers, who never trailed thanks to goals from Chris Kreider, Frank Vatrano, Filip Chytil, Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad. In addition, New York received solid goaltending from Igor Shesterkin, who stopped 37 of 39 shots.
That said, Chytil drew the most attention after scoring the go-ahead goal in the second period to put the Blueshirts up 3-2 before adding another insurance tally entering the third period.