NHL-best New York Rangers defeat Tampa Bay Lightning
TAMPA, Fla. -- Artemi Panarin scored three goals, Igor Shesterkin made 34 saves on his 28th birthday, and the NHL-leading New York Rangers defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1 on Saturday night.
On the back end of consecutive games in Florida, New York bounced back from a 4-3 loss to the Panthers on Friday night, fueled by Panarin's hat trick.
"Honestly, after this game, I feel great. I don't know what can be better [than to] finish the [calendar] year like that," Panarin said. "We won the game, which is important. Thanks [to my] partners."
Vincent Trocheck had a goal and three assists, as well, and Chris Kreider scored for New York. Alexis Lafrenière had two assists, and Mika Zibanejad had an assist for a career-high 10-game point streak.
The Rangers, with plenty of New York fans in the stands for the second straight night in the Sunshine State, became the first team this season to reach 50 points. The last time that happened in franchise history, was the 1993-94 season, when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup.
With the win, New York improved to 6-0 in the second of back-to-back games this season, and it did so with Shesterkin anchoring the effort.
"I thought he was the best player on the ice, and that's saying a lot because [Panarin] had a heck of a game," New York coach Peter Laviolette said. "But Igor was amazing with some of the saves that he made. He seemed like he was dialed in. He saw pucks. He was really good."
Tampa Bay's Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 16 shots, and NHL points leader Nikita Kucherov scored his 25th goal.
The Lightning's 39 points through 37 games is one behind their total after the same number of games in 2016-17, which was the last time they missed the playoffs.
Panarin had two third-period goals, including one on a power play to complete his sixth hat trick. He entered with two goals in 17 previous games against Tampa Bay.
Lightning captain Steven Stamkos played in his 1,037th game to tie Vincent Lecavalier's team record for most games and had an assist.
Shesterkin turned aside Stamkos' slot shot in the second and Victor Hedman's in-close third-period chance. He is 6-0-1 against Tampa Bay.
Panarin scored 1:51 into the game off a pass from Trocheck during a 2-on-none that came about when Hedman fell going for the puck at the defensive blue line. He has a four-game goal streak.
Trocheck made it 2-0 at 7:36 of the first when he poked home a loose puck in the crease.
After Kucherov had a power-play goal late in the second, Kreider reinstated the two-goal lead to complete a 2-on-1 just 51 seconds later. Kreider has a point in six straight games.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.