The Tampa Bay Lightning had five goals on the scoreboard before Saturday’s game hit its midway mark to cruise to a 6-2 victory over the New York Rangers at AMALIE Arena.
Captain Victor Hedman played his 1,083rd game with the Lightning to become the franchise’s all-time leader in games played.
Brayden Point (2-1—3) and Nikita Kucherov (1-2—3) each had three points on a night the home team scored twice on the power play as well as twice shorthanded.
Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made 42 saves to earn his 16th win of the season. Tampa Bay is now 20-11-2 this season and will play its second game in as many days when the Montreal Canadiens (15-17-3) visit on Sunday at 5 p.m.
Scoring Summary
First period
TBL 1, NYR 0
2:27 Nikita Kucherov (15) - Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel - PP
Nikita Kucherov scored on the rush, burying the puck at the left post following a saucer pass from Brayden Point.
TBL 1, NYR 1
9:23 Artemi Panarin (16) - Vincent Trocheck, Adam Fox
The Rangers evened the score midway through the first period on a shot by forward Artemi Panarin from the high slot.
TBL 2, NYR 1
18:11 Ryan McDonagh (1) - Anthony Cirelli - SH
Defenseman Ryan McDonagh carried the puck the length of the ice and sifted a shot under the blocker of New York goalie Igor Shesterkin from near the right faceoff dot to regain the Lightning lead.
Shots on goal: NYR 17, TBL 6
Second period
TBL 3, NYR 1
3:35 Point (23) - Kucherov
Point scored his first goal of the game on the backhand when he found open ice in front of the net. Kucherov passed the puck from the corner to Point, who danced to the backhand and scored off the left post.
TBL 4, NYR 1
5:02 Cirelli (14) - Brandon Hagel - SH
Anthony Cirelli scored on a shorthanded 2-on-1 less than 90 seconds after the Point goal, finishing a pass from linemate Brandon Hagel.
TBL 5, NYR 1
8:08 Point (24) - Kucherov, Hedman - PP
Point scored his second goal of the night, this time on the power play, before the midway point of the game. The puck deflected off Point’s skate near the center hashmarks and then rolled through Shesterkin.
Shots on goal: TBL 12, NYR 8
Third period
TBL 5, NYR 2
00:13 Vincent Trocheck (10) - Ryan Lindgren - SH
The Rangers scored their second goal of the night 13 seconds into the third period, as Vincent Trocheck opted to shoot the puck on a shorthanded 2-on-1.
TBL 6, NYR 2
14:12 Nick Paul (9) - Unassisted
Paul found a Rangers clearing attempt in the slot and buried a shot over the shoulder of New York goalie Jonathan Quick, who replaced Shesterkin after the fifth Lightning goal.
Total shots: NYR 44, TBL 25
