Tampa Bay began its season with a road loss in New York on October 1. Igor Shesterkin scored into an empty net.
Cody Halloran
October 2, 20261 min read
Tampa Bay Lightning1
New York Rangers5October 1, 2026
The Tampa Bay Lightning began the 2026–27 season with a 5–1 loss to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday, October 1.
Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin stopped 24 shots and supplied the final goal himself. His empty-net shot made him the first goaltender to score in franchise history, according to NHL.com.
Pavel Dorofeyev and Mika Zibanejad each contributed a goal and an assist. Eeli Tolvanen and Gabe Perreault also scored for New York.
The Lightning’s official scoring summary lists Shesterkin’s unassisted empty-net goal at 17:26 of the third period.
Sources: NHL.com, https://www.nhl.com/news/tampa-bay-lightning-new-york-rangers-game-recap-october-1-2026 ; Lightning recap, https://www.nhl.com/lightning/news/recap-new-york-rangers-5-tampa-bay-lightning-1-x6525 ; Rangers postgame notes, https://www.nhl.com/rangers/news/topic/features/rangers-vs-lightning-postgame-notes-10-01-26
Cody Halloran
Cody Halloran covers Winter Springs high school and area college sports.
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