Ryan Strome is going to see this play in his nightmares for years to come.
With the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning tied 1-1 in the third period, Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final was set to come down to the wire. The Rangers were pressing late in the third period, looking for a chance to swing things back in New York’s way with the series itself tied 2-2.
On the Rangers best chance of the third period, Andrew Copp was able to get behind the Lightning defense and threaded a gorgeous pass to Strome. Unfortunately, Strome took the backhand pass from Copp… and just whiffed on it.
And the worst part? In front of Strome was a gaping wide open net, with Andrei Vasilevskiy well out of position to make a save.
Strome just whiffed pic.twitter.com/aeX4WHqbCw
— CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) June 10, 2022
Oh yeah, that’s rough. And a few minutes later, the Lightning capitalized on their own chance and made it 2-1 on Mikhail Sergachev’s second goal of the night, the eventual game-winner for Tampa Bay.
SERGACHEV WITH LESS THAN 2 MINUTES REMAINING 😱🚨#StanleyCup | #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/5GcPBUi6Yv
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 10, 2022
Now, the Rangers are facing down elimination headed back to Tampa Bay and Strome’s miss looms large. Rangers fans were, expectedly, agonizing over Strome’s huge whiff in a major turning point for this series.
