Mika Zibanejad's shootout goal gives Rangers win over Lightning

TAMPA, Fla. — For Barclay Goodrow, 2021 went out with a bigger bang than he ever could have imagined.

On the last day of the year, former Lightning forward and current Ranger Goodrow was presented his Stanley Cup ring by his old team. Then he was celebrated with a Welcome Back tribute video on the center ice scoreboard and a standing ovation by the Lightning fans during the Rangers’ New Year’s Eve game against Tampa Bay.

And if that wasn’t enough, Goodrow scored two goals for his new team against his old team as the Rangers beat the Lightning, 4-3, in a shootout. Mika Zibanejad scored the only goal in the third round of the tiebreaker.

"The win felt great,’’ Goodrow said with a wide-eyed, almost disbelieving expression. "The standing ovation was something else. It was one of those moments where I’m just thinking to myself, what is this life? Here I am, a member of the New York Rangers, and I’m coming back here, you know, two-time Stanley Cup champion, and I’m getting a video tribute on the Jumbotron . . . It’s something beyond my wildest dreams.

"You know, growing up as a kid, you dream of making it to the NHL, but I mean, I couldn’t have dreamed of this.’’

"It was a perfect ending to the story for him,’’ Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said of Goodrow, who was a member of two consecutive Stanley Cup-winning teams with the Lightning before being traded to the Rangers in the summer.

Goodrow said the Rangers had talked on Thursday about the need to beat an elite team at some point. The Rangers (now 20-8-4) had put together a nice start for themselves, but they hadn’t quite measured up against the top teams. Tampa Bay certainly qualifies as one of those; even after falling to 21-7-5, the Lightning are tied with the Capitals for the most points in the NHL, three ahead of the Rangers.

"We’ve fared pretty well against teams that are out of a playoff spot or below us in the standings,’’ Goodrow said. "But against teams that are above us, or considered one of the top teams, we haven’t fared so well. So we wanted to come out strong tonight.’’

They didn’t, though. The Rangers were outshot 10-3 in the opening period and fell behind 1-0 on Steven Stamkos’ power-play goal at 18:21 of the period.

Tampa Bay’s No. 2 goalie, Brian Elliott, made two dreadful gaffes in the second period to hand the Rangers two goals.

First he went behind his net to play the puck and, when pressured by Julien Gauthier, tried to clear it. Instead, he put it right on the stick of Alexis Lafreniere, who scored into an open net to tie it at 5:30.

Then, with the Lightning on a power play, Elliott came way out of his net to play a puck near the left boards. With Goodrow pressuring, Elliott played it cross-ice to the right wing, where Greg McKegg got to it first. He passed to Goodrow, who scored a shorthanded goal to put the Rangers up 2-1 at 14:30.

Ross Colton beat Igor Shesterkin (25 saves) to tie it for Tampa Bay with 2:29 left in the second period, but Goodrow’s second goal, a tip-in of a shot by K’Andre Miller, put the Rangers ahead 3-2 at 13:35 of the third.

The Lightning pulled the goalie for an extra skater and tied it with 1:57 left in regulation when Corey Perry jammed in a rebound.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.