New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) – Tyler Johnson had two goals and an assist
to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 6-3 win over the New York Rangers on
Monday.
Brett Connolly scored twice, Ondrej Palat posted a goal and an assist while
Matthew Carle also had a goal for the Lightning, who have won four straight.
Ben Bishop posted 32 stops.
Kevin Hayes, Jesper Fast and Martin St. Louis all lit the lamp for the
Rangers, who had a two-game winning streak broken. Henrik Lundqvist allowed
five goals on 20 shots in the loss.
With the score tied in the third, the Lightning went on top with a power-play
tally at 5:34. Victor Hedman sent a pass from the left point to the right
where Steven Stamkos sent it back to the slot and Connolly wristed it in for
his fourth of the season and a 4-3 lead.
Less than 90 seconds later, Tampa Bay padded its lead as Nikita Kucherov sent
a little pass from behind the net to the left circle where Johnson’s one-timer
dinged off the right post and into the net.
Palat potted an empty-netter inside the final minute to account for the final
score.
Tampa Bay got the first goal of the game at the 6:32 mark as Hedman’s shot
from the left point hit off the stick and skate of Palat in front and went to
the left where Johnson shot it past Lundqvist.
New York tied the game six minutes later when Carl Hagelin skated from left to
right behind the net and centered it for Hayes, who one-timed it home for his
third of the season.
Tampa, though, took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission after Connolly
skated down the right wing and went to the high slot, slamming on the brakes
before shooting it past Lundqvist at 16:02.
New York took the lead on a pair of goals in the second, as Fast tapped in a
Derick Brassard feed at 2:42, and St. Louis banged home a rebound at 9:24 on
the power play.
The Lightning knotted the game at 3-3 with 5:37 to play in the second as Carle
scored on a one-timer from the left circle.
Game Notes
New York was 1-for-4 on the power play while Tampa was 1-for-5 … Hedman had
three assists in the contest … New York plays in Detroit on Saturday …
Tampa plays in Buffalo on Tuesday … Tampa has won all three contests against
New York this season.
