Antti Raanta, Rangers defeat Lightning in OT

TAMPA -- Antti Raanta made 38 saves and Mika Zibanejad scored with 1:04 remaining in overtime to lift the New York Rangers to a 1-0 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Monday.
New York (42-22-2) is 23-8-0 on the road. The Rangers are two points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets for second place in the Metropolitan Division.

"I feel like our guys were doing a good job, blocking a lot of shots and our penalty kill] was really good tonight," Raanta said. "When the team is playing like this, it helps you a lot. I think we gave up a little too many chances, but still we're on the right track. It was a good, physical game."
**WATCH: [All Rangers vs. Lightning highlights**
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 33 saves for Tampa Bay (30-26-9), which trails the New York Islanders by two points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
Each goaltender stopped multiple scoring opportunities over the first three periods.
Lightning forward Adam Erne put Raanta to the test at 13:22 of the first period with a wrist shot from the high slot, but Raanta made a kick save. Raanta came up big again at 18:04 of the first period when he made a sprawling pad save on Ondrej Palat off a rebound.
"It was one of the best games we played all year," Palat said. "The effort was there, the energy was there. We played a solid 60 minutes."

Rangers defenseman Brady Skjei had a 2-on-1 opportunity in the final minute of the second period, but Vasilevskiy made a glove save on his wrist shot with 45.9 seconds remaining.
"We took another step tonight and we upped our game," Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman said. "It's not the one game that is going to decide it; it's the team that can play the most consistent throughout this last stretch here."
Raanta forced overtime when he made a save on Nikita Kucherov's wrist shot with 15.1 seconds left in the third period.

Goal of the game

With time winding down in overtime, Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh recovered a Lightning turnover and fed Zibanejad for a breakaway. Zibanejad beat Vasilevskiy low on the glove side. "When you get those kind of opportunities, you want to make sure you take advantage of it," Zibanejad said. "I'm glad I was able to do that."

Save of the game

Vasilevskiy was put to the test when Nash got around Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman for a 2-on-1, but his wrist shot was saved and covered with 58.2 seconds remaining in the third period.

Unsung performance of the game

New York's penalty killers denied all six Lightning power plays. Tampa Bay entered with the No. 3 power play in the League.

Highlight of the game

Kucherov had the game on his stick in the final seconds and Raanta stuck his glove out and deflected the puck into the stands while Kucherov buried his head in frustration. "I was a little bit lucky that it hit the glove and went over," Raanta said. "When I didn't hear anything, I was sure that it went in. But it stayed out and we got the two points."

They said it

"It's a pretty cool feeling to have two goalies you can really trust back there. [Raanta] was very impressive and we want to make sure we have his back." -- Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad
"I liked our start tonight, I thought we got pucks deep and came after them pretty well. But what you saw tonight was great goaltending at both ends. Hard-fought game by both teams. I liked the way we executed and we're going to get out of here because we've got a game [Tuesday at the Florida Panthers]." -- Rangers coach Alain Vigneault
"Overtime's not about creating chances, it's about capitalizing on mistakes. We made a mistake and they capitalized. That was it." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper

Need to know

Rangers forward Derek Stepan played in his 500th NHL game. … Three of the Lightning's past four games have been decided after the third period.

What's next

Rangers: At the Florida Panthers on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; MSG, FS-F, NHL.TV)
Lightning: Host the Minnesota Wild on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; SUN, FS-N, FS-WI, NHL.TV)