NEW YORK, NY – It was a short but unusual trip to the “Big Apple” for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Last night at Madison Square Garden the Lightning beat the Rangers when Ryan Malone, the 22nd shooter, scored to give the Bolts a 4-3 shootout win and propel them into first place in the NHL Southeast Division.
The win came on a night when the Lightning had been dominated by the Rangers for most of the game. New York outshot Tampa 37-27 for the game and 17-7 in the third period.
“Obviously last night (versus Islanders) wasn’t a game we were very happy with,” Lightning defenseman Mattias Ohlund said on Tampa Bay Lightning.com. “Our focus needed to be on tonight’s game, not last night or the next few days. The Rangers were playing well, and this was a big game for us.”
But just as Dwayne Roloson had held off the Bolts on Long Island, Tuesday night, Dan Ellis frustrated the Rangers for most of the night as the “Blueshirts” seemingly spent most of the game in the Tampa zone.
“It’s a huge win for us,” Ellis said on the website. “We were really pushing for first place in our division and New York really played a great game, but we battled on, battled some more and we were able to come away with a big win.”
The win leaves the Lightning tied with Washington atop the Southeast Division however the Bolts have 2 games in hand.
The road ahead after Christmas is not easy however, Tampa will leave for Atlanta on Sunday morning for a game with the Thrashers Sunday night. They return home for three games all with Eastern Conference playoff hopefuls, Boston, Montreal, and the Rangers.
This could be a key stretch for Tampa. They have ridden a six game point streak into first place and if they can continue to pick up wins, especially wins in regulation, they could give themselves some separation from the logjam that is the Eastern playoff race.
More importantly could be the play of Ellis. The Bolts goalie tandem has combined for the lowest save percentage in the NHL. But Ellis continued to make huge saves in the second and third periods of last night’s game to help propel the Lightning into the shootout.
After two of New York’s first three shootout skaters scored on Ellis, he stopped the next eight, going toe to toe with Henrik Lundqvist. If Ellis can continue to play well during the week ahead Tampa may also be celebrating New Years on top of the division.
Contact Joe.Malta@prohockeynews.com
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