Panarin gets hat trick in Rangers win against Lightning

TAMPA -- Artemi Panarin had a hat trick for the New York Rangers in a 5-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Saturday.

Vincent Trocheck had a goal and three assists, and Alexis Lafrenière had two assists for the Rangers (25-9-1), who were coming off a 4-3 loss at the Florida Panthers on Friday but are 6-2-0 in their past eight. Igor Shesterkin made 34 saves.

"Even though we all thought that we gave an honest effort last night, we still lost the game," New York coach Peter Laviolette said. "For them to go out and play as hard as they did tonight ... it was good to get back on the winning side of things."

Nikita Kucherov scored for the Lightning (17-15-5), who have lost two in a row after winning three straight prior to the holiday break. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 16 saves.

"This group, they can play 57 minutes of solid hockey and the three minutes that go awry, the puck ends up in the net," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "The pucks that we threw at the net, the chances we had ... for us to only get one, that's tough."

Panarin gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 1:51 of the first period. He finished a cross-slot pass from Trocheck on a 2-on-0 after Victor Hedman fell down while trying to swat the puck away at Tampa Bay's blue line.

"It seems like he somehow continues to get better, and he's taking more and more steps forward, which is kind of crazy to think," Trocheck said of Panarin. "He's obviously an outstanding hockey player, one of the best of the League. His scoring this year is up and he's shooting a little bit more. He's fun to play with."

Trocheck extended the lead to 2-0 at 7:36 of the first when he jammed in a rebound past Vasilevskiy's right pad.

"I thought we came out hot. We didn't want to lose two games in a row," Trocheck said. "We played pretty hard and kind of set the tone early."

Kucherov cut it to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 17:39 of the second period, one-timing a pass from Steven Stamkos in the right circle.

Chris Kreider quickly responded to make it 3-1 at 18:30. He beat Vasilevskiy short side from the left circle on a 2-on-1 with Trocheck.

"That's something you talk about when you're in minor hockey, the shift after a goal is a big one, right?" Stamkos said. "It was an unfortunate play where we were a little in between. Stuff like that happens. Mistakes happen. It was tough timing, but that's the way it went tonight."

Panarin pushed it to 4-1 at 11:16 of the third period with a wrist shot from the right circle. He then completed the hat trick with a power-play goal at 15:26 for the 5-1 final.

"I feel great," Panarin said. "I don't know what can be better [than] to finish the year like that. We won the game. That is important."

NOTES: It was Panarin's second hat trick this season and sixth in the NHL. ... Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad had the secondary assist on Panarin's power-play goal to extend his point streak to 10 games (eight goals, nine assists). ... New York is the first team to reach 50 points this season. The last time the Rangers accomplished the feat was in 1993-94, when they won the Stanley Cup. ... Lightning forward Conor Sheary left in the second period with an undisclosed injury.