New York Rangers

Former New York Rangers winger Sean Avery has been convicted on attempted criminal mischief stemming from a road rage incident from 2019.

According to TMZ Sports, Avery was accused of slamming his scooter into a car. He was found guilty of the misdemeanor charge Thursday in Manhattan.

A spokesperson from the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said Avery has been sentenced to time served. He had originally been facing up to three months in prison. According to the New York Post, Avery had turned down multiple plea deals from prosecutors.

Avery damaged the car of a New York-based businessman during a dispute over the vehicle blocking a bike lane.

Avery told the New York Post in 2019, "If I need to be the poster boy for defending the bike lanes, I will absolutely do that. We need to be able to just bike in freedom."

The man said his four-year-old daughter was in the car during the incident, and Avery's attack left a hole in the door near where she was sitting. The judge presiding over the case issued full orders of protection for the victims in the case.

The 42-year-old Avery testified Thursday and admitted to raising his voice during the altercation, but he claims he changed his tune when he noticed that a child was present.

"It was three years ago, I can’t exactly remember whether the vehicle was damaged. … As soon as I saw the kids, everything, just you know, changed," he said.

Avery retired from the NHL in 2012 after a 10-year career.

The New York Rangers' third line had been one of its most impactful throughout its run to the Eastern Conference Final. So when Kaapo Kakko, the winger who had typically played on the right of Alexis Lafreniere and Filip Chytil was a healthy scratch for Game 6 against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night, many were understandably confused.

New York Rangers coach Gerard Gallant was asked by ESPN reporter Emily Kaplan during the broadcast if he would take the viewers through the decision to scratch the No. 2 overall draft pick in 2019.

"Nope," Gallant said.

He doubled down following the 2-1 loss and subsequent elimination from the Stanley Cup playoffs.

"I'm not going to talk about it," he said. "Now is not the time."

You could make the argument that he doesn't really owe the fans an explanation, though it wouldn't be a good one, because the people buying the tickets and tuning into games do deserve some reasoning. You could make the argument that Kakko's addition to the lineup would not have tilted the ice enough to make up for the embarrassing lack of offensive production.

Gallant may have informed his team of his decision and why he was making it before the game, but once Ryan Strome left the game with an injury that has been plaguing the forward since Game 5, it became an indefensible decision.

The loss ended what had previously been an exceptionally fun postseason run for a team built on a lot of young talent like Kakko. The Rangers looked destined for a Stanley Cup Final after taking a 2-0 lead in the series with two very convincing wins. But it all came to a screeching halt in Game 3 when the Lightning made adjustments and figured out how to expose New York's weaknesses. The Rangers never recovered.

"It's just denial," a tearful Mika Zibanejad said. "I'm empty right now. I don't know what to say."

The biggest problem was the Rangers' five-on-five play. Their exceptional power play helped propel them to the brink of the Stanley Cup Final, but when the calls didn't go their way, they were hamstrung by their inability to generate even-strength offense. The Blueshirts had no problem scoring at five-on-five in Games 1 and 2, but they scored only once in the last four games.

The issues were magnified in Game 6.

The Rangers were flat and lifeless from the start. Tampa Bay controlled 65.9 percent of the shot share and 73.7 percent of the expected goals throughout the game. It was scoreless through the first period, but the Bolts took a lead in the second. Frank Vatrano, a key trade-deadline acquisition for New York, tied the game in the third with a power-play goal, but Lightning captain Steven Stamkos scored his second goal of the game just 21 seconds later.

Igor Shesterkin was masterful once again, but he could only do so much when the skaters in front of him were bleeding chances. The Vezina and Hart Trophy finalist saved 60.4 goals above expected in 73 games this season (including the regular season and the postseason), and because of him, the Rangers had as good of a chance as any.

But the Lightning made the adjustments necessary to shut down the top line. The lines were shuffled in Game 6, but Gallant still couldn't get Zibanejad's line away from the Tampa Bay checking line of Alex Killorn, Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel.

"As the series progressed, we got better and better, and I think tonight may have been our best game overall," Killorn said. "That's important in a Stanley Cup run. It's typically the team that improves the most throughout a run that typically ends up winning."

Gallant was outmaneuvered and outcoached by future Hall of Fame Jon Cooper. Gallant, who is typically regarded as a well-liked players' coach who tends to make a lot of decisions by feel, didn't appear to have that feel as the series went on.

The club is in a good spot moving forward, but there are some clear Xs and Os issues that they will need to right next season and Gallant isn't exactly known as a great X's and O's coach. The Rangers' struggles at five-on-five throughout the season must be resolved.

Now the Rangers have a summer of uncertainty, as some of those young players are due for new contracts, and the club is about to feel the salary-cap squeeze. Kakko himself is a restricted free agent. Maybe it's time they trade him and let him figure out his development with another organization.

There are also questions about the veteran group as the team hits the offseason. Strome might have played his final game in a Rangers jersey. The club can't afford to retain all of its deadline acquisitions, like Vatrano, Andrew Copp, Tyler Motte and Justin Braun. Jacob Trouba's $8 million contract, which runs through 2026, isn't looking quite as palatable right now.

The rebuild is not over. If this was a measuring stick series, then it's clear the Blueshirts are not stacking up with the last two Stanley Cup champions.

But if you want to take something positive from this series—and you should—it's that this long playoff run will be beneficial for the young core.

"You look back and we could've been done in five games in that first round. But we battled. It took everyone," defenseman Adam Fox said. "It's a nice young mix of guys in this room but also a good mix of older guys who help and lead the way for us. It was a great locker room. I think our battle when we were down in the series really showed that.

"Wish for a better ending, but definitely promising for our team."

The New York Rangers' best season since 2014-15 came to an end Saturday night with a 2-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final.

Trailing 1-0 with less than seven minutes to play, Frank Vatrano scored a power-play goal to tie the game. Steven Stamkos immediately responded with the game-winning goal for the Lightning 21 seconds later.

Despite not being able to see their team end this season the way they were hoping, Rangers fans have no reason to be disappointed with this showing. The team won a playoff series for the first time since 2016-17 and came within two wins of reaching their first Stanley Cup Final since 2013-14.

The Rangers put together this playoff run despite not having Sammy Blais for most of the season. He tore his ACL in a Nov. 15 game against the New Jersey Devils. They also played without Barclay Goodrow, who had 33 points in the regular season, for three weeks because of a lower-body injury suffered in their first playoff game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Goodrow did return midway through the Eastern Conference semfinals, but he only averaged 14.3 minutes in the past eight games.

The bulk of New York's roster should return next season. Ryan Strome, whose 54 points ranked fifth on the team, is the biggest unrestricted free agent. Blais' status will be a question mark because of his injury, but his status as a restricted free agent could leave a simple path to bring him back.

The Rangers had a terrific postseason run. They overcame a 3-1 deficit in the first round to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in seven games. They had another seven-game series against the Carolina Hurricanes in which they won the decisive game 6-2 at PNC Arena.

The reigning two-time Stanley Cup champion Lightning proved to be too much for New York to overcome.

With an offseason left to make some tweaks to their roster, the Rangers look to be set up for a potential playoff run in 2022-23.

NEW YORK — Maybe the Toronto Maple Leafs could have warned the New York Rangers. Or maybe even the Blueshirts' neighbors out on Long Island could have given them some advice considering the seven-game series they played against the Tampa Bay Lightning last season.

When you have the Lightning on the ropes, you have to finish them off.

Instead, it's the Rangers on the ropes after a 3-1 loss to the Bolts in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. Tampa Bay is up 3-2 in the series and can eliminate New York on Saturday night when the series shifts back to Amalie Arena.

The turning point in the series came with just 42 seconds left in Game 3 when Nikita Kucherov set up Ondrej Palat for the game-winner. Thursday night, it once again appeared as though the teams were destined for overtime, but Palat prevented it again, deflecting a Mikhail Sergachev shot in traffic with only 1:50 left to play.

Palat now has 11 game-winning goals in his postseason career, the most in franchise history. A 31-year-old former seventh-round draft pick, Palat has been overlooked at times on a team with so much talent, but he's part of that core group of players that have won two Cups. The depth might have dropped off as the Bolts ran into salary-cap issues last year, but the current iteration is looking just as strong as it goes for a three-peat.

That should tell you all you need to know about a Tampa Bay team that has won 10 straight Stanley Cup Playoff series and the last two Stanley Cup championships: No matter who they lose in the offseason and who they play during the season, they find ways to win.

"We’re here to win a series," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "We don’t care when we win it. We just want to win it. The next chance to win it now is Saturday night, and we’ll be ready."

Tampa Bay has effectively taken away all of the Rangers' strengths at five-on-five. The Lightning has pushed them to the outside and eliminated any east-to-west passes; they've neutralized the Rangers' top lin; and while the Kid Line of Filip Chytil, Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko played well once again, coach Gerard Gallant to limited their minutes and decided to keep his top two lines out on the ice for the majority of Game 5.

"Just the way I coached the game," Gallant said. "Trying to match up a little bit. They played OK."

But the power play is New York's biggest strength and man-advantage opportunities are out of their hands. There was some questionable officiating and some missed calls, and the Rangers had only a single power play. They did generate chances on that one power-play opportunity, but they couldn't score.

Gallant thought the Blueshirts deserved another call or two, but ultimately he did not criticize the officials.

"I did, I really did," he said. "In saying that, I thought they did an excellent game. They let the teams play enough. I thought we could've had a couple more, there's no doubt."

The Rangers challenged the Lightning in the first period, checking hard and skating hard and putting pressure on goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, but they didn't record a single high-danger chance scoring chance at five-on-five in the second period and they didn't record one until late in the third.

The 5-on-5 woes have plagued them all season, but on this particular night, they were forced to spend so much time defending that they couldn't generate any offense.

"It was a tight game that could have gone either way," New York defenseman Jacob Trouba said. "I think that’s what makes it more frustrating for us. It’s not like we’re getting the doors blown off."

This isn't exactly an unfamiliar position for the Rangers, who got to this point in the postseason by winning two Game 7s. They've kept themselves alive in the playoffs by winning five elimination games.

They're confident that their experience will be beneficial in Game 6.

"We've been down 3-2 every series so far. We have to have a level of desperation," Rangers forward Andrew Copp said. "I think the confidence of doing it before is bigger and better than having to do again. I think there's the belief in the room."

But the problem is that Tampa Bay has them right where they want them. The Rangers are up against a deep, experienced that knows how to step on the throats of their opponents. The Bolts know how to manage their emotions throughout a series and make adjustments on the fly.

They know when to rely on their world-beating goalie and how to produce in the waning seconds of games.

"You prepare for those moments by experience," Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said. "You go into those situations, and everybody talks about, 'Hey, you're up a goal, or tied going into the third. How are you going to execute as a team?' We've learned over the years how to do that. It's not being comfortable, that's not the right word. It's so intense that you're not comfortable. You're just confident and you understand what goes on there.

"Our group understands."

The defending champs twice over understand that sometimes all you need to do is throw a puck through traffic and see what happens, much as Sergachev did twice on Thursday night. They didn't beat the Rangers with high-skill plays, but in this case, they didn't need to.

"You have to be able to dance the line. You have to be able to get your shot through with a little bit of substance on it," Cooper said. "You can’t throw a muffin in there and Sergy has that ability."

It's the Lightning: They can beat anyone in any way, and they'll make teams like the Rangers regret not finishing the job early.

The New York Rangers' dream season is quickly shifting into a nightmare.

After a surprisingly strong regular season, New York put together a magical postseason run to find itself in the Eastern Conference Final against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning. The Rangers then took a 2-0 lead and it looked like the magic would continue, but it looks like they've ran out of luck.

New York is on the brink of elimination after losing to Tampa Bay 3-1 in Thursday's Game 5 at Madison Square Garden to fall behind 3-2 in the series.

The Rangers held a 1-0 lead in the second period before the Lightning tied it in the same frame. Tampa Bay winger Ondrej Palat scored with 1:50 remaining in the third period to give his team the lead for good. Brandon Hagel capped the scoring less than a minute later with an empty-netter.

New York was never expected to reach this point in the playoffs in the first place, and the team's inexperience has become glaring. After the game, fans online couldn't help but point out the predictability of the Rangers' collapse, with some believing it always was just a matter of time.

The Rangers are a young team that is ahead of schedule. New York is built to be a title contender for years to come, but this year it is just overmatched against Tampa Bay.

It's hard to imagine that the Rangers will score the upset as the series moves back to Tampa Bay for Saturday's Game 6. The way both teams are playing, the Lightning have the clear edge. All signs point to New York waking up from its dream and facing the reality of preparing for next season.

The Eastern Conference Final between the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning is officially a series after the Bolts tied it 2-2 with a 4-1 win in Game 4 on Tuesday at Amalie Arena.

New York didn't get particularly great play from any player on Tuesday night, though fans were particularly critical of Artemi Panarin. He did score a goal on the power play late in the third period, but it was too little, too late.

Panarin's performance this postseason, especially against the Bolts, has left fans wanting more from the player their team is paying $81.5 million over seven years.

Panarin had an impressive regular season, tallying 22 goals and 74 assists for 96 points in 75 games, but his performance this postseason hasn't lived up to fans' expectations.

The 30-year-old has six goals and 10 assists in 18 games, and two goals and three assists against the Bolts, but he has turned the puck over far too much and also has been a defensive liability.

According to MoneyPuck.com, Panarin entered Tuesday's game leading all skaters this postseason with 37 giveaways in 17 games, nine more than Jacob Trouba, who has the second-most giveaways with 28.

With the Rangers getting solid production out of many unsuspecting players, such as Andrew Copp and Frank Vatrano, the team needs Panarin to play his game if it wants to reach the Stanley Cup Final.

Game 5 between the Rangers and Lightning is set for Thursday at 8 p.m. ET in New York.

The New York Rangers had the Tampa Bay Lightning on the ropes. They needed a better knockdown punch to keep the two-time defending champs down, though.

The Lightning beat the Rangers 3-2 Sunday in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, despite the Rangers taking a 2-0 midway through the second period behind goals from Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider.

Nikita Kucherov pulled one back in the second period, while Steven Stamkos and Ondrej Palat found the net in the third to steal the win.

And Rangers fans were not pleased watching their team give away a chance to take a stranglehold on this series:

The Rangers still hold a 2-1 advantage in the series, with Game 4 in Tampa Bay on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET (ESPN). But with the chance to take a commanding 3-0 lead and move one game away from the franchise's first Stanley Cup Finals appearance since the 2013-14 campaign, the Rangers blew it.

Igor Shesterkin, who has been very good in these playoffs, did his part to back up what was a leaky defense on Sunday, stopping 48 of the 51 shots he faced. He dealt with 21 more shots than his counterpart, Andrei Vasilevskiy, who turned away 28 of New York's 30 attempts.

The Lightning are two-time defending champions for a reason. The Rangers learned that the hard way in Game 3, giving away a golden chance to all but bury Tampa.

The New York Rangers defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Friday to take a 2-0 lead with the series set to shift to Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, for the next two matchups.

While Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov opened the scoring, the Blueshirts responded with goals from K'Andre Miller, Kaapo Kakko and Mika Zibanejad to take a 3-1 lead and put the game out of reach for the Bolts.

Zibanejad now has nine goals this postseason, and his early third-period tally in Game 2 was all anyone could talk about on Friday night. Some even said that the 29-year-old is making himself a "Rangers legend" with his performance this postseason.

Zibanejad now has nine goals and 13 assists for 22 points in 16 playoff games. If the Rangers make, and win, the Stanley Cup Final, he has a real case to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the postseason.

Blueshirts netminder Igor Shesterkin has also been equally as important to the Rangers' playoff run, though Zibanejad has been a wrecking ball offensively and it has paid off for New York.

Game 3 between the Rangers and Lightning is set for Sunday afternoon, and the Blueshirts will look to take a commanding 3-0 series lead .

Have the New York Rangers found a way to beat Andrei Vasilevskiy?

Ask a room full of players, scouts, media and fans to name the best goaltender, and the majority may very well answer with Tampa Bay’s starting goaltender. The 27-year-old Russian is a four-time All-Star, the 2019 Vezina Trophy winner and the 2021 Conn Smythe winner.

He had just dominated in a sweep against the Florida Panthers, who led the league in goals. Then the Rangers picked him apart in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final with a commanding 6-2 win Wednesday.

New York's goaltender, Igor Shesterkin, certainly played a major role in the lopsided score, while the Lightning skaters made mistakes and looked overwhelmed for certain shifts.

But Vasilevskiy looked shockingly average, and that may even be generous. Clear Sight Analytics reported that the Rangers’ shots resulted in 2.97 expected goals, or three fewer than Vasilevskiy allowed.

Every player has bad nights. Henrik Lundqvist gave up six goals on five different occasions during his playoff career. It happens. Vasilevskiy is a top goaltender with playoff experience beyond his years. He won’t be rattled and will almost certainly perform better for the remainder of the series.

What stood out, though, was not merely that the Rangers beat him six times, but how they did it. Four of the six goals were elevated shots toward Vasilevskiy’s blocker side. A couple of them were the result of the natural game flow. Goals by Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin came from the lateral right-to-left passes. That meant the blocker side of the net was gaping as Vasilevskiy needed to move across the crease. Filip Chytil scored twice while shooting toward Vasilevskiy’s glove side on similar plays.

Goals by Mika Zibanejad and Frank Vatrano told different stories.

Shooting blocker side on both of these occasions was an active choice. Zibanejad’s goal was hardly a blunder on Vasilevskiy’s part, but it’s one he probably thinks he could save. Though it’s an admirable rip by Vatrano, his goal is the one Vasilevskiy almost certainly wants back.

Wrist shots from distance with a partial screen at best are ones good goaltenders are expected to stop.

This is not an outlier in Vasilevskiy’s game. As goaltending analyst Mike McKenna pointed out, the Tampa Bay netminder has struggled to make saves on his blocker side during his career. Via InStat, here are Vasilevskiy’s save percentages by shot location during the 2021-22 season.

It did not seem incidental that the Rangers beat him so often to his blocker side. Over the entire 60 minutes of Game 1, it appeared the Rangers were actively targeting Vasilevskiy’s blocker side.

InStat’s data backs this up. Of the Rangers’ 26 tracked shots on goal, nine were shot either mid- or high blocker, and there were seven toward the blocker-side leg pad. That’s a stark contrast with just three elevated shots on the glove side. What’s more, all six of their shots from defensemen were sent blocker side, with only one shot by Adam Fox from anywhere closer than the point.

This is not in line with the Rangers’ typical tendencies. Over the 82-game season plus two playoff rounds, the team’s shooting preferences were fairly even, with a slight majority toward the glove side.

It could be a coincidence, but it sure doesn’t look like one. That the Lightning completed the sweep of the Panthers on May 23 meant the Rangers knew well in advance who their conference final opponent would be should they move on.

That is a lot of time for the video and analytics teams to prescout the Lightning, Vasilevskiy included. If the players were indeed instructed to shoot blocker side in Game 1, then it worked.

What can the Lightning do about it?

On the penalty kill, probably not much. As Game 1 showed, Zibanejad can absolutely rip it from above the left faceoff circle. Fox and Panarin are wizards with the puck who put it right in his wheelhouse even when it seems impossible. The Rangers' power play is elite, and the Lightning may have to try to limit their penalties and otherwise take their lumps.

At even strength, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper will need to make adjustments. The Rangers shot frequently from the left side of the offensive zone, which naturally means more shots toward Vasilevskiy’s blocker side.

The Lightning will want to force the puck to the Rangers' right side of the ice. They may also be forced to concede the points more and get sticks in the middle of the ice to prevent the cross-slot seam passes that the Rangers executed with impunity in Game 1.

Ultimately, the Lightning will bank on better performances from their franchise goaltender. It’s unlikely New York will continue to score three more goals than expected against him. But Igor Shesterkin is in peak form for the Rangers.

The games will probably be much closer the rest of the way, but unless Shesterkin starts to slip, the Rangers’ relentless targeting of Vasilevskiy's blocker side could result in the two or three goals that decide the series.