Point, Lightning top Rangers to close within two points of Maple Leafs
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NEW YORK (AP) — Brayden Point had two goals an an assist, Nikita Kucherov added a goal and two assists, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the New York Rangers 5-1 on Monday night.
Yanni Gourde and Brandon Hagel also scored, and Jake Guentzel had three assists for playoff-bound Tampa Bay, which was 3 for 4 on the power play. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 38 shots.
Tampa Bay got its 45th victory to reach that mark for an NHL-leading eighth time in 11 seasons.
The Lightning are two points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for first place in the Atlantic Division with one more game played. The two teams will meet Wednesday in Tampa Bay after a stop for Toronto against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.
"It's tight," Point said. "It's home ice and that means a lot in a seven-game series. We're just really working on trying to get our game right for the playoffs and that's going to be a big test against Toronto."
Mika Zibanejad scored for the Rangers, who lost their second straight and remain six points behind Montreal for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. Both teams have five games remaining. Igor Shesterkin finished with 18 saves.
Kucherov opened the scoring on the power-play with 6:51 left in the first period, sliding the puck past Shesterkin for his 34th goal.
Gourde made it 2-0 just 36 seconds later, and Point scored on the power play with 5:06 remaining.
Zibanejad scored his 17th goal of the season the power-play at 3:16 of the second, just the third power-play goal by the Rangers in the 45 chances.
Point scored his second of the game and team-best 41st goal on another power play with 4:20 left in the third to make it 4-1, and Hagel had an empty-netter with 2:42 remaining.
Takeaways
Rangers: New York is 3-5-1 in its last nine games overall and fell to 18-18-3 at home one year after finishing with 30 wins at Madison Square Garden.
Key moment
Kucherov’s first-period goal with the man advantage set the tone for Tampa Bay. The 31-year-old Russian forward has 115 points, tied for the league lead with Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon.
Key stats
With his assist on Point’s first goal, Kucherov became the fourth player in NHL history with 80 assists in three consecutive seasons — joining Wayne Gretzky, Paul Coffey and Bobby Orr.
Up next
Lightning host Toronto on Wednesday, and Rangers host Philadelphia.
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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL