By Jim Cerny, newyorkrangers.com
On Wednesday night at the St. Pete Times Forum, the Rangers ran right smack into one of the hottest teams in the league right now. And when the Rangers’ own play was not at its best either, the combination was too much to overcome.
As a result, the Rangers suffered 5-3 defeat at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thanksgiving Eve in a game where Tampa Bay jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two periods before the Blueshirts regrouped in the third period to make the final score much closer.
“Give them credit that they played a good game,” Rangers head coach John Tortorella said of his former club, the Lightning. “But we just looked brain dead through the first part of that game. Why? I don’t know. I wish I had the answer.”
Steven Stamkos had a hand in each of the game’s first three goals, recording his league-leading 21st goal to go along with two assists to up his league-high point total to 38. Teammate Martin St. Louis picked up three assists, and Ryan Malone scored twice as the Lightning won their fifth consecutive game.
“There have been a handful of guys that’s done a lot of work for this club, and we need that other handful who haven’t to come and play in our next game,” said Tortorella. “I looked at their best players and they were pretty good (Wednesday) night. I didn’t see our best players.”
Although the Rangers spoke extensively about how to shut down Stamkos prior to the game --mainly by not allowing him the ...
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STAT OF THE GAME
Rookie Derek Stepan registered his first career power-play goal and also gained an assist to extend his scoring streak to five games (two goals, four assists over the span). Stepan has now recorded eight points (two goals, six assists) in the last seven games.
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| (selected by newyorkrangers.com) |
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| 1. D. Stepan |
2. Brian Boyle |
3. S. Eminger |
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