Three goals in a span of 1 minute, 45 seconds built a lead for the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first period on Monday, and the visitors wrapped their four-game road trip with a 5-1 victory over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
Nikita Kucherov scored on the power play 13:09 into the first period, and Yanni Gourde made it 2-0 46 seconds later.
Brayden Point’s 40th goal of the season came on another Lightning power play for a 3-0 lead through 20 minutes. Ranger Mika Zibanejad’s power-play goal was the lone score of the second period.
Point’s second power-play goal of the night made it 4-1 late in regulation, and Brandon Hagel added an empty-net goal.
Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 39 saves for the visitors, who improved to 45-26-6.
Scoring summary
First period
TBL 1, NYR 0
13:09 Nikita Kucherov (34) - Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel - PP
The Lightning opened the scoring on the rush. Tampa Bay’s Brayden Point entered the zone during a Lightning power play and passed to Nikita Kucherov at the far post, where the latter scored to make it 1-0.
TBL 2, NYR 0
13:45 Yanni Gourde (7) - Gage Goncalves, Victor Hedman
After a Gage Goncalves shot from the top of the slot hit a Rangers defenseman in front of the net, a diving Yanni Gourde sprawled to bury the puck past New York goalie Igor Shesterkin.
TBL 3, NYR 0
14:54 Brayden Point (40) - Guentzel, Kucherov - PP
Brayden Point’s 40th goal of the season gave the Lightning a 3-0 lead when he dug for a loose puck on the power play and pushed it over the goal line.
Shots on goal: NYR 13, TBL 10
Second period
TBL 3, NYR 1
3:16 Mika Zibanejad (17) - Artemi Panarin, J.T. Miller - PP
The Rangers got their first goal on the power play with Mika Zibanejad’s redirection in front of the net.
Shots on goal: NYR 18, TBL 5
Third period
TBL 4, NYR 1
15:40 Point (41) - Guentzel, Point - PP
Tampa Bay’s third power-play goal of the night extended their lead in the closing minutes of period three.
TBL 5, NYR 1
17:18 Brandon Hagel (35) - Ryan McDonagh - EN
An empty-net goal by Brandon Hagel closed the scoring.
Total shots: NYR 40, TBL 23
