Brayden Point scored one goal in a three-point night, Tampa Bay scored four times on special teams and the host Lightning pounded the reeling New York Rangers 6-2 on Saturday night.
Point’s 23rd goal came in the second period on the power play, raising his league-leading total to 12 with the man advantage.
Nikita Kucherov had a power-play goal and two assists, and Anthony Cirelli and Ryan McDonagh recorded short-handed tallies. Nick Paul notched the final tally, and Cirelli added an assist.
Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made a season-high 42 saves as the Lightning improved to 8-2-0 in December.
In his 16th season, captain Victor Hedman set a team record by playing in his 1,083rd game to pass Steven Stamkos and had his 597th career assist.
New York’s Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck hit the net, but the Rangers lost for the 14th time in their past 18 matches (4-14-0).
Goalie Igor Shesterkin surrendered five goals on 13 shots before being pulled halfway through the game. Jonathan Quick relieved with 11 saves.
On the game’s first power play, Kucherov took a pass through the slot from Point and hit the net on his team’s first shot at 2:27. Jake Guentzel had the secondary helper.
However, Panarin beat his Russian countryman Vasilevskiy with a wicked wrist shot on the glove side at 9:23. His team-leading 16th goal broke a seven-game goalless drought.
During the Rangers’ first man advantage, McDonagh skated in on an odd-man rush and fired in the home side’s short-handed goal at 18:11.
After producing just 12 shots total in a 5-0 loss to the host New Jersey Devils on Monday, the Rangers stepped up their forecheck, created zone time and fired 17 shots on Vasilevskiy in the first period but yielded two goals on six shots by the Lightning.
In the second, Kucherov returned the favor by dishing the puck to Point for a forehand-backhand tally at 3:35.
Cirelli added the club’s second short-handed goal just 12 seconds into New York’s second power play for a 4-1 edge at 5:02.
Guentzel scored on the man advantage at 8:08 of the second for a 5-1 lead that chased Shesterkin from the crease.
Just 13 seconds into the final frame, Trocheck potted a short-handed goal off an assist from Ryan Lindgren, but Paul capped the scoring at 14:12.
–Field Level Media
