The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the New York Rangers 4-1 on Saturday at Madison Square Garden, securing their seventh consecutive victory. Brandon Hagel scored twice to extend his goal streak to five games, while Nikita Kucherov recorded three assists. The win improves Tampa Bay to 16-7-2, while New York falls to 13-12-2.
The Lightning jumped out to an early lead in the first period when Brandon Hagel scored at 10:53, with his shot from the top of the left face-off circle deflecting off Rangers defenseman Carson Soucy's skate past Igor Shesterkin. Tampa Bay dominated shots 11-2 in the period and outshot New York 35-13 overall.
Hagel added his second goal at 8:57 of the second period on a breakaway, stuffing home the rebound after Shesterkin stopped his initial shot. J.T. Miller pulled the Rangers within one at 17:31, tapping in a pass from Adam Fox near the net for his seventh goal of the season.
In the third, Nick Paul restored the two-goal lead at 2:02, redirecting a Kucherov pass from the slot. Jake Guentzel sealed the 4-1 final with an empty-net goal at 19:42, assisted by Yanni Gourde.
Jonas Johansson made 12 saves on 13 shots for the win, while Shesterkin stopped 31 of 35. Neither team scored on the power play, going 0-for-2.
"We've got a really good vibe going," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "We thought we could jump on them early, and fortunately we did."
Rangers captain J.T. Miller noted, "There was no urgency today. We dipped our toe into the game and got outplayed basically the whole time."
Adam Fox left with an upper-body injury after being hit into the boards late in the third. Rangers defenseman Will Borgen returned after missing five games with an upper-body injury, recording six hits in 19:50 of ice time.
Tampa Bay has won 15 of its past 18 games despite injuries to forwards Brayden Point and defensemen Victor Hedman, Erik Cernak and Ryan McDonagh. The Lightning conclude their road trip Tuesday against the New York Islanders.
