Brayden Point is good at hockey. On Thursday he did something only two players in franchise history have done as he recorded six points, including a hat trick, as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the New York Rangers 6-3 to finish off a long homestand. Nikita Kucherov had five points including a goal, Steven Stamkos scored on the power play, and Anthony Duclair scored for the second time in as many games. Andrei Vasilevskiy was solid in net, stopping 25 of 28 for the victory.
Things started fairly well (at least they did after an opening face-off rush by Chris Kreider went wide) for the Lightning. They were skating well, and had a few chances, with a Steven Stamkos snapshot from the slot ending up in Igor Shesterkin’s glove. They also killed off a penalty and were matching the Rangers speed.
As the period wore on, the Rangers defense in their zone proved to be a bit of a difference as they kept the Bolts to the perimeter and got the puck out quickly. A three-minute stretch of play proved to be the difference as the Rangers showed how lethal they could be on the transition.
A lost possession battle in the Rangers zone had Victor Hedman trapped in no-man’s land which led to a two-on-one break. Darren Raddysh went to the ice to defend a pass, but Vincent Trocheck showed the patience of a parent with a three-year-old and held onto the puck as Raddysh slid by. Trocheck then dished off to Artemi Panarin who buried it into an empty net.
Another easy zone exit for the Rangers a few minutes later led to Jack Roslovic having plenty of ice to skate into the offensive zone. While he botched his attempts to drag the puck between his legs, he stayed with the play and his linemates bailed him out. Roslovic angled a pass behind the boards to Mika Zibanejad who had spied Braden Schneider streaking in. The pass was spot on and Schneider buried it for the 2-0 lead.
Early in the second period, Panarin had a chance to return the two-on-one favor to Trocheck, but Raddysh timed his layout better and smothered the pass. It would end up being a rather important play in the period as the Lightning worked their way back into the game.
After killing another penalty (and watching Zibanejad skate off after taking a puck to the face) the Lightning were able to get their forecheck working a bit. Not only that, but they were a bit stronger in the neutral zone as well, not letting the Rangers build speed as they tried to enter the zone.
Coach Cooper also mixed things up a bit, putting Duclair on a line with Point and Branden Hagel while bumping Kucherov to the Stamkos and Anthony Cirelli line. Still, Point and Kucherov found each other on the ice as they so often do. There was a really good shift where Point and Kucherov harassed the breakout and Point stole a pass.
They duo wheeled into the zone and Kucherov timed his pass perfectly to let Point bury one past Shesterkin.
Following the goal, all of the lines kind of got into the forecheck swing of things and kept the Rangers in the zone. A few minutes after the Point goal, Duclair drew a lot of attention as he skated to the back of the net. Much like Zibanejad on the Schneider goal earlier in the game, he took the attention and slid the puck to the uncovered man, in this case Point in the slot. Shesterkin was there to make the save on Point, but he couldn’t corral the rebound and Duclair potted it for his second goal in as many games with the Lightning.
The Lightning were unsuccessful on their lone power play in the period, but found their groove a bit at 5v5 as they generated 9 shots on 15 attempts. More importantly, playing in the Rangers’ zone kept the puck well away from their defensive zone and they didn’t allow a high-danger chance in the middle frame according to Natural Stat Trick.
After working so hard to get back to level, it had to have been a bit disheartening to see the Rangers claim the lead early in the third as Adam Fox found Roslovic down low for a one-timer less than two minutes into the final frame.
Rather than fold, the Lightning fought back, and less than two minutes later Brayden Point tied it back up with his second of the game as he worked around Erik Gustafsson and chipped a puck up and over Shesterkin on the shortside.
Things were a little squirrelly in the first half of the period as the Rangers were whistled for a too-many-men on the ice penalty only for the refs to rescind it. Matt Dumba collided with Shesterkin that started a scrum. Anthony Duclair and Ryan Lindgren had a big collision, and then the Lightning kind of took over.
It was a reversal of the first period. The Lightning were the ones with possession in the Rangers zone and allotted the Rangers temporarily rushes and chances that Vasilevskiy was able to stop. In the second half of the final period, the offense took it to the Rangers.
First it was Steven Stamkos with a one-timer on the power play off of a nice pass from the slot from Point. Two minutes later Point completed the hat trick. His initial attempt hit the post (and would have been reviewed with Duclair in the crease) but Point reestablished position and was there to deflect it home and bring the hats raining from the crowd.
Nikita Kucherov picked up his fifth point of the night when he slid home an empty-net goal off of a pass from Point. For Point he tied Doug Crossman and Kucherov with the franchise-record six points.
The Lightning now head on the road with a game against the Florida Panthers on Saturday.
The Lines
The Goals
Artemi Panarin (Vincent Trocheck, Alexis Lafreniere) 1-0 Lightning
Braden Schneider (Mika Zibanejad, Jack Roslovic) 2-0 Rangers
Brayden Point (Nikita Kucherov) 2-1 Rangers
Anthony Duclair (Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov) 2-2
Jack Roslovic (Adam Fox, Chris Kreider) 3-2 Rangers
Brayden Point (Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov) 3-3
Steven Stamkos (Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli) Power Play, 4-3 Lightning
Brayden Point (Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman) 5-3 Lightning
Nikita Kucherov (Brayden Point, Nick Paul) Empty Net, 6-3 Lightning
