Chris Kreider, Tyler Motte power Rangers to 6-3 win over Lightning
NEW YORK (AP) — Chris Kreider and Tyler Motte each scored twice and the New York Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-3 on Wednesday night.
Kaapo Kakko and Artemi Panarin also scored, Mika Zibanejad had three assists and Barclay Goodrow and Adam Fox each had two to help the Rangers win for the fifth time in seven games and improve to 11-2-2 in their last 15 games. Igor Shesterkin stopped 28 shots to win for the ninth time in his last 11 starts.
Alex Killorn had a goal and an assist, and Darren Raddysh and Brandon Hagel also scored for Tampa Bay, which snapped a three-game win streak. Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 31 saves.
It was a physical game that featured four fights and several hard hits in a matchup of teams that met in the Eastern Conference final last year, which the Lightning won in six games to advance to their third straight Stanley Cup Final.
Kreider got his second of the night and 35th of the season to give the Rangers a 5-3 lead with 8 1/2 minutes remaining in the third as he knocked in the rebound of Zibanejad’s backhander that went off the post and the back of Vasilevskiy’s pad and came out on the right side of the crease. Zibanejad got his 600th career point on the play.
Panarin scored on a power play from high in the left circle with 6:11 left for his 26th to push New York’s lead to 6-3.
Trailing 3-1 after one period, the Lightning pulled within one as Raddysh fired a shot from center point that appeared to deflect off the stick of Rangers defenseman Braden Schneider past Shesterkin at 7:10 of the second. It was Raddysh’s first career goal in his 17th NHL game.
Just 15 seconds later, Motte beat Vasilveskiy on a breakaway for his second of the night and eighth of the season to restore New York’s two-goal lead. It gave…
