Brayden Point scored twice to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning past the struggling New York Rangers 6-2 on a night when Victor Hedman became the team’s all-time leader in games played.
The Rangers, who are 3-7 in their last 10 games, came into the game with the hopes of turning things around after the Christmas break as the Blueshirts had points in eight of their last nine games (7-1-1) against the Lightning and in 10 of their last 12 contests (8-2-2).
Point’s second goal came on the power play, leading to Igor Shesterkin being pulled in favor of Jonathon Quick. It was also his league-leading 12th power-play goal of the season. Shesterkin allowed five goals on 14 shots.
The boys are buzzin' pic.twitter.com/zKSDmlVE8c
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) December 29, 2024
Nikita Kucherov had a goal and two assists to register his 12th multi-point period of the season and surpassed Jack Eichel (11) for the most in the NHL this season.
Three shorthanded goals were scored in the game, with Anthony Cirelli and Ryan McDonagh scoring for the Lightning, while Vincent Trochek picked up the shorty for the Rangers.
Artemi Panarin scored the other goal for the Rangers, registering his 108th regular-season point of 2024 to tie Mark Messier (1992 & 1995) for the third-most in a calendar year in franchise history. The only players with more are Jaromir Jagr (114 in 2006) and Mike Rogers (113 in 1982).
Nick Paul also scored for the Lightning as Andrei Vasilevskiy had 42 saves, and the Lightning are now 8-2 in their last 10 games.
The Rangers will head south to take on the Florida Panthers on Monday (Dec. 30) while the Lightning will host the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday (Dec. 29).
