The Rangers pinch out the Lightning

Lafrenière strikes twice as the Rangers burn on

Thirtieth against fifth

Last season the New York Rangers finished 30th of 32. The Tampa Bay Lightning finished 5th. On qualification night at Madison Square Garden none of that counted: one game, and the loser's candle went dark. Tampa Bay came in carrying a sore memory, snuffed on qualification night a year ago by the New Jersey Devils. The Rangers had shared the Gauntlet in 2024-25 and wanted that fire back.

Lafrenière lights it twice

Alexis Lafrenière needed 1:02. His wrist shot, set up by Tye Kartye and Adam Fox, put New York ahead. At 12:47 he went back to the wrist shot, with Kartye and J.T. Miller assisting, and that goal held up as the winner. At 14:17 Jeffrey Viel and Matt Rempe dropped the gloves and each sat five minutes. Zemgus Girgensons replied at 17:26, a wrist shot from Pontus Holmberg and Victor Hedman, and the Lightning were down only one.

Garand shuts the door

Then 21:00 passed without a goal, until Will Cuylle tipped one in at 18:26 of the 2nd, with Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson assisting. Dylan Garand stopped 25 of 26 shots for New York. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves on 22 at the other end. Mika Zibanejad sealed it with an empty-net wrist shot at 17:16 of the 3rd. The Lightning's flame went cold, and 25 candles still burn.