Alexis Lafreniere kept rolling at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, scoring twice as the New York Rangers handled the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 and remained unbeaten at home. Lafreniere’s two-goal night pushed his personal scoring run to four games, the best goal streak of his NHL career.
Key takeaways
- Lafreniere has scored seven times in four games, beginning with his Oct. 6 hat trick against the New York Islanders.
- New York improved to 6-2-0 overall and 5-0-0 on home ice, with each Garden win coming in regulation.
- Tye Kartye set up both Lafreniere goals, while Dylan Garand stopped 25 shots.
- Tampa Bay saw its four-game winning streak end and has lost both of its games this season against the Rangers in New York.
- Mika Zibanejad sealed the result with a short-handed empty-net goal late in the third period.
Lafreniere strikes early and often
The Rangers needed only 62 seconds to take control. Kartye forced Victor Hedman into a turnover with a hard forecheck, pursued the loose puck behind the Tampa Bay net and fed Lafreniere in the slot for the opening goal.
Kartye helped create another break at 12:47 of the first. From the Rangers’ end, he lofted a long pass ahead to Lafreniere, who beat Hedman and Anthony Cirelli up ice, corralled the puck in stride and finished on his forehand for a 2-0 advantage.
Zemgus Girgensons gave the Lightning some life at 17:26 of the opening period. On a 2-on-1 with Ilya Mikheyev, Girgensons elected to shoot and beat Garand over the goalie’s left shoulder.
New York restored its two-goal cushion in the second period. Will Cuylle redirected a shot from the area between the faceoff dots at 18:26, making it 3-1. Zibanejad then took the puck away from Brayden Point and scored into an empty net while short-handed with 2:44 left to finish the scoring.
Garden streak reaches five
The Rangers are now 5-0-0 at Madison Square Garden, a sharp change from last season, when they managed nine regulation home wins all year. Their fifth regulation win at home last season did not arrive until Dec. 20, their 18th home date.
New York had not opened a season with at least five consecutive home victories since 1990-91, when it began 8-0-0 in its own building.
Garand’s 25 saves gave the Rangers steady work in net, while Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 stops for Tampa Bay. The Lightning fell to 4-2-0, and both defeats have come against the Rangers at the Garden.
