Esposito's loyalties with Lightning against Rangers in conference final

Tampa Bay Lightning broadcaster
Phil Esposito
was on the phone from midtown New York on Wednesday morning, two blocks from Madison Square Garden.

The Lightning, a team Esposito co-founded in 1990, was hours from beginning the Eastern Conference Final with a 6-2 loss to the New York Rangers in Game 1.
Esposito was the Rangers general manager from July 1986 through May 1989, after having played for New York from 1975-81.
The 1984 Hockey Hall of Famer's loyalties are not divided.
"Here's the way I've always looked at it," Esposito said. "If the Lightning weren't in it and Boston or New York or even Chicago were, I'd probably cheer for them. But if the Lightning are in it, I cheer for them. Period."

It was with the Chicago Black Hawks that Esposito began his 18-season, 1,282-game NHL career, playing four years from 1964-67. He was most famous for his eight seasons and change with Boston from 1967-75, highly decorated as one of the NHL's greatest goal-scorers during the era of the two-time Stanley Cup-winning Big Bad Bruins.
Esposito played his final 422 games for the Rangers, over nearly six full seasons from 1975-81, arriving in New York with defenseman Carol Vadnais on Nov. 7, 1975 in a blockbuster trade that saw the Bruins receive center Jean Ratelle and defensemen Brad Park and Joe Zanussi in return.
The earliest days of the Lightning, who began play in the 1992-93 season, saw Esposito serve as the fledgling team's fundraiser, president, general manager, chief marketer, a sponsorship salesman, ticket vendor and its most boisterous cheerleader.
He has been in Tampa Bay's broadcast booth for its Stanley Cup championships in 2004, 2020 and 2021 and makes no apologies for his cheering allegiance today.

Now, Esposito considers the Lightning's focus on a third consecutive title, something that hasn't been done since the New York Islanders did so from 1980-82 before adding a fourth straight in 1983.
"I'm flabbergasted that we're even here because it's very, very difficult," he said of the Lightning. "We keep forgetting, at least the media does, that these guys played a lot of hockey in a very short period of time.
"Last season they finished on July 8 and started again in September (training camp began Sept. 21). So they had half of July off, August, then prepared to get right back into camp.
"Our second Cup in Boston (in 1972), we finished on May 11, so we had half of May, all of June, July, August and half of September off."

(What Esposito doesn't mention is that he reported to Toronto in late August that summer for Team Canada's training camp for the historic 1972 Summit Series, the eight-game September clash between an NHL all-star team and one from the Soviet Union in which he would be his country's best player.)
"These guys today are paid very well, there's no doubt about it," he said. "But they don't have the opportunities to enjoy themselves off the ice like we did. People are always taking pictures of them with their phones. I don't know if they can go to the bathroom without someone taking a picture."
Esposito harkens back to the 2018-19 Lightning, a 128-point Presidents' Trophy-winning team that was swept by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round. Since then, Tampa Bay has gone 40-17 in winning 10 consecutive playoff series and the Stanley Cup twice.

Phil Esposito arrives at Madison Square Garden on June 1 for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final.
"We learned our lesson against Columbus," he said. "Six times in the last eight years, we've been to the conference final. When we do what we did against Columbus, you think, 'What the heck just happened?' Well, the coaches make sure the players never forget it."
As do most observers, Esposito sees the Eastern Conference Final against the Rangers as a showcase for two brilliant goalies - Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Lightning and Igor Shesterkin of the Rangers.
Shesterkin, a Vezina Trophy finalist this season, clearly was the better goalie in Game 1, making 37 saves. Vasilevskiy, who won the Vezina in 2018-19, faced 34 shots, uncharacteristically porous in yielding six goals for the third time in 93 career postseason games.

Rangers GM Phil Esposito in his Madison Square Garden office in the late 1980s.
"I don't know Shesterkin very well, I've seen him mostly on TV in the playoffs," Esposito said. "I do know Vasilevskiy, though. He's by far the most valuable player on the Lightning. By far. And I say that with all due respect to all the other guys on this team.
"Vasilevskiy is the one, it seems to me, who makes the huge save at the right time. Shesterkin seemed to do that specifically in Game 7 against Carolina in the first round (a 37-save effort in a 6-2 win).
"But the fourth game we played against Florida (Vasilevskiy made 49 saves in the 2-0 win that eliminated the Panthers), I don't think I've ever seen a goalie play as well as that. Ever. That's the truth."

Rangers GM Phil Esposito in the late 1980s, the Statue of Liberty behind him.
Vasilevskiy, he said, reminds him of two Hall of Famers - Billy Smith, who anchored the Islanders' 1980s dynasty, and Gerry Cheevers, who backstopped Boston's 1970 and 1972 championships.
Esposito would offer no prediction on the current series, his crystal ball having long ago short-circuited.
"I thought it would be a six- or seven-game series with the Panthers. Who the heck thought we'd win in four?" he said. "Game 2, going up 2-0 by scoring with four seconds to go, that was a dagger.
"But I'll say this: there are two teams in the Atlantic Division - we beat them both this playoffs - who are on the verge of winning big and that's Toronto and Florida."

Phil Esposito and Lightning legend Dave Andreychuk enjoy Tampa Bay's 2020 Stanley Cup rally on Sept. 30, 2020.
With that Esposito was headed out for a pregame stroll in Manhattan. He'd not be attending Tampa Bay's morning skate at the Garden, nor will he do so for Game 2 on Friday - or any after that.
"As a player I didn't want to go to morning skate, I thought it was the most ridiculous thing," he said. "(Coach) Billy Reay started it with the Black Hawks because he wanted us to get out of bed."
Then, with a laugh: "Bobby Hull and I would put our skates on with our suits, I'd skate one or two laps, take one shot, then go back to the dressing room, take my skates off, put my shoes on and get the heck out of there."
Photos: Hockey Hall of Fame (Blackhawks: Frank Prazak; Bruins: Graphic Artists; Rangers: DiMaggio Kalish); Bruce Bennett, Douglas P. DeFelice, Getty Images