Alexis Lafreniere scored twice in the opening period to lead the New York Rangers to a 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.
Lafreniere put the Rangers ahead 1:02 into the first period with an even-strength wrist shot set up by Tye Kartye and Adam Fox. He scored again at 12:47 of the period on another wrist shot, assisted by Kartye and J.T. Miller. Zemgus Girgensons cut the deficit to 2-1 at 17:26, scoring his first goal of the season on a wrist shot with assists from Pontus Holmberg and Victor Hedman.
New York restored its two-goal cushion late in the second period when Will Cuylle redirected a tip-in shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy at 18:26, assisted by Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson. Mika Zibanejad capped the scoring at 17:16 of the third period, firing a shorthanded wrist shot into an empty net off assists from Fox and Pettersson.
Garand stopped 25 of 26 shots to earn the win in net for New York. Vasilevskiy made 19 saves on 22 shots in the loss for Tampa Bay. Neither power play broke through, with the Lightning going 0-for-4 and the Rangers finishing 0-for-4.
The win lifted New York to a 6-2-0 record and extended its winning streak to two games. Tampa Bay fell to 4-2-0 on the season.
Both teams return to action next week. The Rangers host the Anaheim Ducks on Monday, October 19, and the Lightning visit the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday, October 20.
