Point gets 3 points, Lightning defeat Rangers to gain in Atlantic

NEW YORK -- Brayden Point scored twice to reach 41 goals this season, and the Tampa Bay Lightning moved to within two points of first place in the Atlantic Division by defeating the New York Rangers 5-1 at Madison Square Garden on Monday.

The Lightning (45-26-6) trail the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have a game in hand, for first place with five games remaining. The Lightning are home against Toronto on Wednesday. Both teams have already clinched a berth into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"It's tight," Point said. "It's home ice and that means a lot in a seven-game series. We're just really working on trying to get our game right for the playoffs and that's going to be a big test against Toronto."

Point, who also had an assist, has scored at least 40 goals in three straight seasons, tying Steven Stamkos for the Lightning record.

Nikita Kucherov had a goal and two assists, moving him to 115 points (34 goals, 81 assists) this season, which is tied with Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon for the NHL scoring lead. Jake Guentzel had three assists and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 38 saves.

Kucherov became the fourth player in NHL history to record at least 80 assists in three straight seasons, joining Wayne Gretzky (13), Paul Coffey (three) and Bobby Orr (three).

"Every year you seem to marvel at something and that's just another amazing stat in what is probably going to be a Hall of Fame career," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Just don't take him for granted because he's a special, special player."

Mika Zibanejad scored, and Igor Shesterkin made 18 saves for the Rangers (36-34-7), who remained six points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Each team has five games remaining.

"It's terrible," Rangers forward Artemi Panarin said. "I don't know. We've got to win the games. We're not doing that. If we keep playing like that we're going to miss the playoffs."

The Rangers have lost two in a row. They're 3-6-1 in their past 10 games.

"We've got to win out now," Rangers forward Jonny Brodzinski said. "We have to win out and we need help too. It (stinks) to be in this position."

The Rangers had a 12-1 advantage in shots on goal until Kucherov, Yanni Gourde and Point scored in a span of 1:45 in the first period.

Kucherov made it 1-0 with a power-play goal off the rush at 13:09, ending the Rangers' streak of 12 consecutive shots on goal after Tampa Bay had the first shot of the game.

Guentzel started the rush to Kucherov, who passed it back and forth with Point, and scored from the left post.

"I knew we had a bit of speed," Point said. "'Kuch' made a great play to go under the stick and then he beats his guy to the post there. It was a great pass by him to get it to me with speed and then he does a great job jumping by his guy. He's really good at that."

Gourde increased the lead to 2-0 at 13:45, collecting the rebound of Gage Concalves' shot on his backhand and putting the puck in while falling down.

"A little bit of a dirty goal the second one with the shot, rebound, around the net type goal," Cooper said. "Those are playoff-type goals."

Point scored his 40th on the power play at 14:54 to give Tampa Bay a 3-0 lead. Kucherov collected his 80th assist by moving the puck to Guentzel below the right face-off circle. Guentzel slid it across to Point, who jammed it in from the left post.

"We put the pressure on them, we were getting pucks to the net, couldn't find a goal and then it just seemed like back to back to back," Brodzinski said. "Not tying up guys in front or just small stuff around the net that cost us."

Zibanejad's power-play goal at 3:16 of the second period cut the lead to 3-1, but Vasilevskiy stopped 17 of 18 shots in the second period.

"We needed that second one I thought in the second period to get it to 3-2 and make that push toward the third period," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. "That never came."

Kucherov and Guentzel again set up Point for a power-play goal from near the left post at 15:40 of the third period to make it 4-1.

Brandon Hagel scored into the empty net at 17:18 for the 5-1 final.

"We buried our chances that we got and then the goalie did the rest for us," Cooper said.

Notes: Kucherov had his 16th three-point game of the season and 106th of his career, tying Stamkos for the sixth-most among active skaters behind Sidney Crosby (186), Alex Ovechkin (140), Connor McDavid (134), Evgeni Malkin (117) and Patrick Kane (112). … Zibanejad's power-play goal was his 108th as a Ranger, tying Rod Gilbert for third-most in team history. … Will Cuylle was credited with four hits, tying Ryan Callahan for the most hits by a Ranger in a single season (285) since the NHL started tracking the stat in 2005-06.