With the Rangers facing a strong playoff team that had seemingly flipped the switch to playoff mode, the Rangers played their game of the year (so far). For fans, this game had just about everything. It was fantastic 60 minute effort with tons of goals, four fights, and it felt like a playoff game.
There is now legitimate hate between these two teams nowadays, mostly because of how dirty the Lightning like to play, and the Rangers don’t let anyone push them around anymore. Despite Patrick Kane’s absence for a lower body injury and losing Jacob Trouba to a scary play in the first period, the Rangers beat the proverbial snot out of the Lightning both on the scoreboard and physically.