Chasing Goals falls 1 short as Rangers beat Lightning 4-1

Stop number 3 of the tour was New York, and the bet was simple: the over in Rangers vs. Lightning. On the pregame show they laid out the number.

Barstool Gambling

@BarstoolGambling

“We're obviously on the over. It was 5 and a half minus 135 when we came in here.”

0:46

In the same segment they gave their read on the goalies. Igor Shesterkin is out for the season, so rookie Dylan Garand was in net for New York. Andrei Vasilevskiy starting for Tampa was the bad news. Their backup plan was Tampa's coach, who they said loves to pull his goalie early when he's trailing. Hang onto that, because it nearly saved them.

The start couldn't have gone better. Alexis Lafrenière scored 62 seconds in, and the countdown started in the lower bowl.

Lafrenière scored again at 12:47 for his 7th goal of the season, which put him in the NHL lead. That's 4 straight games with a goal now. At 2-0 Rico Bosco stood up in the stands and tried to get MSG going himself, and his own boss saw it.

Barstool Pick Em

@Barstoolpickem

😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂

Then Tampa helped out. Zemgus Girgensons scored with 2:34 left in the first, and when you're on the total a Lightning goal counts the same as a Rangers goal. That was 3 in the first period, the crew was halfway there, and they had 40 minutes to find 3 more. Elio was already doing the math on camera between periods.

The second period nearly killed it. Vasilevskiy and Garand shut things down until Will Cuylle tipped one in with 94 seconds left in the period. That made 4, leaving them 2 short with a full period to go.

elio imbornone

@elio82

Need 2 in the 3rd!!

The goalie-pull plan worked, once. Tampa pulled Vasilevskiy late, and Mika Zibanejad scored a shorthanded empty-netter with 2:44 left. That was goal 5, and a 4-1 game with an empty net and 2:44 on the clock still had a chance. Nothing else went in. Garand stopped John Carlson point-blank with his glove late, finished with 25 saves, and the over died 1 goal short.

Missing the over by 1 when the empty-netter already came is about as painful as it gets. On the pregame show somebody admitted to being 0-for-10 and said they were due, and the drought goes on. The Rangers are 5-0-0 at home and Lafrenière is the hottest scorer in the league, so the team is fine. The tour is not, and it goes to the next city still chasing that 6th goal.