Lightning erupt early, blow past reeling Rangers

The Tampa Bay Lightning notched three goals within just 45 seconds during a one-minute, 45-second stretch in the opening period and from then on dominated, easily defeating the home team New York Rangers with a score of 5-1 on Monday evening.

Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point each contributed two goals during the power play as part of their three-point performances, with Yanni Gourde scoring the second goal in that sequence.

The Lightning (45-26-6, 96 points) narrowed the gap to two points behind the resting Toronto Maple Leafs for the top spot in the Atlantic Division. They also extended their lead over the third-place Florida Panthers to four points.

After allowing 11 out of the game’s initial 12 shots following their slow start, Tampa Bay responded forcefully when Kucherov netted the opening goal. During a break in play, Coach Jon Cooper delivered an intense message to his team. Later, Kucherov contributed two more assists for Point’s goals and now shares the league lead with Colorado’s Nathan Mackinnon, each having accumulated 115 points.

Kucherov secured his 80th assist for the third consecutive year with this contribution, placing him among an elite group including Wayne Gretzzy, Paul Coffey, and Bobby Orr, who are the only players to achieve more than 80 assists in three straight seasons.

Point notched his 40th goal to equal former team captain Steven Stamkos' record for the longest streak of 40-goal seasons in the franchise’s history, now at three. Later, he secured his second goal of the evening by converting on Tampa Bay's third man-advantage opportunity with just over four minutes remaining in the contest, bringing his total to nine goals in as many games.

Brandon Hagel scored an empty-net goal to cap off the scoring. Jake Guentzel notched three assists for the Lightning, helping them avoid their third consecutive defeat.

Mika Zibanejad netted a power-play goal for the Rangers (36-33-7, 79 points), leaving them six points shy of the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild-card position in the Eastern Conference.

Andrei Vasilevskiy recorded 39 saves, notably making five during New York’s initial power play before Tampa Bay took the lead. Later, he stretched across the net to use his glove to stop an early-third-period attempt by Alexis Lafrenière and used his leg pads to deny a shorthanded breakaway opportunity from Zibanejad around 8:30 remaining in the game.

In New York, Igor Shesterkin let through four goals with 22 shots being directed at him.

Following a sluggish beginning, the Lightning swiftly took command by making their way to the goal area.

Kucherov started the scoring by entering the attacking area following Tampa Bay’s disruption of a New York odd-man rush, then passed to Point. After receiving the pass back, Kucherov found himself unmarked and easily tapped the puck into the vacant right side of the net with 6:51 left in the opening period.

Gourde scored from a backhand shot off Shesterkin following a New York turnover when there were 6 minutes and 15 seconds remaining. Point then extended the lead to 3-0 by pushing in a loose puck underneath Shesterkin at 14 minutes and 54 seconds into the period.

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