He did it. For seven years, Igor Shesterkin kept trying to do it. It took him eight years to finally make history by scoring a goal to highlight an exciting 5-1 Rangers win over the Lightning to take the home opener at a boisterous Madison Square Garden.

With the game already decided, the magic moment came when Shesterkin took an errant Lightning shoot in and fired the puck down into an empty net at 17:26 of the third period to raucous cheers from the capacity crowd, who got their monies worth this time. What followed were excited teammates who poured off the bench to mob him after he celebrated becoming the 18th goalie in NHL history to score a goaltender goal.

When asked by MSG’s Michelle Gringas on the bench afterward what it felt like to become the first ever Rangers goalie to score a goal in franchise history, he said, “Actually, I don’t know. I thought I didn’t hear a whistle for icing. I thought I’ll keep trying to score and I did it.

“We did an awesome job, our penalty kill. Amazing. Everyone played the right way. Everyone played for the team. So, we’ll just try to get points for the team. We’ll keep doing that.”

Shesterkin also finished with 24 saves on 25 shots to earn the first star of the game. Unlike the season opener when the team didn’t play well in a 3-0 shutout loss to the Bruins, the Rangers were superb from start to finish. It was a total team effort in a convincing win over a disjointed Lightning, who were a couple of steps behind playing their first game of the season.

Their newest star had himself a special night. Pavel Dorofeyev scored his first goal and assisted on another to record his first two points as a Ranger. Playing for the second time in three nights, the 25-year-old forward was around the puck early and often. With the Rangers on the power play, Adam Fox set up Dorofeyev for a hard one-timer that caromed off Andrei Vasilevskiy right to Mika Zibanejad, who made no mistake burying his first of the season.

When they were at even strength, the Rangers played more like a five-man unit by attacking and defending with more purpose. There weren’t many gaps for the dangerous Lightning to exploit. That included the penalty kill, which was a big part of their success. They were a perfect 7-for-7 killing off a few too many unnecessary penalties.

That included one on Braden Schneider for a hold on Brandon Hagel. However, the normally potent Lightning attack found it difficult to break through. It was the same personnel except for one noticeable difference with John Carlson replacing former Bolt Darren Raddysh on the point. After Raddysh left for Toronto, Carlson signed with Tampa Bay.

The Rangers got plenty of work against a unit that features two-time Hart winner Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel, Hagel, and Carlson. They were up to the challenge. Instead of overusing Zibanejad and J.T. Miller on the kill, head coach Mike Sullivan leaned heavily on Joe Veleno (6:33) and Tye Kartye (5:51) while shorthanded. He worked in Noah Laba, Will Cuylle, and Eeli Tolvanen to give the veterans a breather with another game on Friday at Detroit.

Following a successful kill to bail out Schneider, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Dorofeyev combined on a nice goal that made it 2-0. An aggressive Bjorkstrand forced a turnover in the neutral zone. After he stole the puck, he pulled ahead and then dished across to Dorofeyev for a nice finish.

The Rangers killed off a chintzy Cuylle holding minor a few minutes later. To put it mildly, the officiating wasn’t good. There were some calls that left the coaches shaking their heads. The refs are probably still in preseason mode.

Less than two minutes into the second period, the third line struck thanks to some diligent work from all three forwards. Following a strong Laba forecheck, Tolvanen centered a pass in front for Cuylle, but it never reached him with it instead ricocheting off a Lightning player in front for a 3-0 lead. Tolvanen got credit for his first as a Ranger after Lightning head coach Jon Cooper burned a timeout to take a closer look at the replay.

During a scrum, Schneider didn’t take too kindly to Jeffrey Viel, who tried to be a nuisance with Shesterkin. They each went off for roughing minors. Unlike the nightmarish opener that saw him make a bad read on J.J. Peterka’s goal, he was sharper. As a pair with 18-year-old rookie Albert Smits, they had a good night combining to go plus-five. Aside from one coverage mistake, Smits was steady in his true MSG debut. He logged 14:09 to become just the second 18-year-old Rangers defenseman to play at that age since former captain Dave Maloney.

The Lightning were finally able to get on the scoreboard thanks to some puck wizardry from Kucherov, who banked in a shot off Laba past Shesterkin. Point started the play at center ice with a nice lead pass for Ilya Mikheyev, who got the puck over for Kucherov. He then wisely sent the puck towards the front for his first of the season.

With the Rangers nursing a two-goal lead, they had to kill off a Miller penalty for hooking Anthony Cirelli. He took a couple of undisciplined penalties in the contest. The Rangers captain has to make sure he moves his feet. Following another easy kill, Gabe Perreault restored order when he deflected in a Fox shot pass to make it 4-1. Zibanejad got it started by moving the puck over to Fox, who patiently waited before finding Perreault wide open in front for his first.

Perreault had a much better game along with Alexis Lafreniere, with the two playing well off each other. Although he didn’t get on the score sheet, Lafreniere was more assertive by using his strength to get a backhand off and draw an iffy tripping minor on J.J. Moser early in the third.

The game remained 4-1 until there was less than three minutes remaining. With Cooper lifting Vasilevskiy with over four minutes to go, the media and fans knew there was a chance for something to happen. Shesterkin took advantage of a wide shoot in and quickly got off an accurate shot that hit the net for an emphatic celebration.

It was well deserved.