In Manhattan, Victor Hedman scored the game-winner for the Tampa Bay Lighting in a 4-3 win in extra time over the New York Rangers.
The win was the 10th straight, a franchise record.
“I didn’t realize it was a franchise record, but that’s pretty cool with the season we’ve had so far,” Hedman said.
Tyler Johnson, Dan Girardi and J.T. Miller scored in regulation as the Bolts had leads of 2-0 and 3-1 before the Rangers rallied with three goals in the middle frame.
“The regular season is a dress rehearsal for the playoffs so we’ve just got to keep working on our game and make sure we’re ready in April,” Hedman said.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 33 saves to get the win as the Bolts improved to 49-11-4.
The Rangers got goals from Mika Zibanejad, Jimmy Vesey and Boo Nieves.
“Listen, they’re the best team in the League, they’ve got the best record, they’re going to look good, but we made them look especially good because we just stood still,” Rangers head coach David Quinn said of the first period. “We didn’t close on anyone defensively. We didn’t forecheck. We played in awe, I felt like.”
New York dropped to 27-26-10.
Zibanejad’s goal got the Rangers started when he cut the deficit to 2-1 in the second period.
“Our whole mentality changed it looked like,” Quinn said. “It felt like on the bench a bubble burst and we kind of thought, ‘OK, we’re OK.’ ”
[WATCH: All Lightning vs. Rangers highlights]
Alexandar Georgiev made 26 saves in the loss.
“We don’t quit, and I don’t think we have all year. Obviously we want to have a better first period, but I think the way we battled back in the second and third just goes to show the character we have in this room,” Zibanejad said after the loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.