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 Lundqvist was sharp throughout and was helped by some early offense. Hagelin scored his first goal just 31 seconds in and then made it 3-0 in the second period. Ryan Callahan added a breakaway goal with 4:47 left in the first, and Arron Asham and Rick Nash scored in the third for the Rangers (6-5), who have won four of six.
On the flipside, the Lightning -- who entered with an NHL-best 42 goals this season
-- have netted only six during their skid. Tampa Bay (6-5) might have been a bit weary following a long bus ride from Boston on Saturday after its game against the Bruins was postponed by the big Northeast snowstorm.
Vinny Lecavalier scored a second-period goal for the Lightning, who changed goalies after New York took a 3-0 lead on Hagelin's second goal at 9:58. Backup Mathieu Garon was pulled after stopping 16 of 19 shots and was replaced by Anders Lindback, who finished with 11 saves on 13 shots.
Asham pushed the lead to 4-1 by scoring his first goal with the Rangers at 12:22 of the third, and Nash netted his third of the season off a feed from Hagelin with 8.3 seconds left.
After netting at least three goals in their first seven games, the Lightning have failed to reach the mark during their losing streak that started with a 3-2 home defeat to the Rangers on Feb. 2. Tampa Bay is 1-4 on the road.
Lecavalier ended Lundqvist's shutout bid with 5:18 left in the second period when he put in a rebound of defenseman Victor Hedman's shot from the left point. That concluded a wild sequence in the Rangers' end that began with a 4-on-1 rush by the Lightning after a bad line change at the Rangers bench.
Lundqvist stopped a few drives before Lecavalier finally beat him for his fifth goal of the season. Alex Killorn, recalled Sunday from Syracuse of the AHL, made his NHL debut and earned his first point with an assist.
Despite several odd-man rushes by the Lightning in the first period, including a failed breakaway by Lecavalier, the Rangers held a 15-6 shots advantage.
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New York took control from the first minute and never let it go.
Hagelin scored when Nash's fluttering drive from the high slot hit his hand in front and caromed past Garon at 31 seconds.
Lundqvist faced action, too, but seemingly dangerous chances often were neutralized before the Lightning produced quality scoring chances. Lecavalier had the best one just over 3 minutes in when he came in alone. As he cut from right to left in front of Lundqvist, the puck slipped off his stick and went wide.
Tampa Bay then had a 3-on-1 rush at 11:06, again with Lecavalier leading the way. This time, he fed a pass to Cory Conacher, who lifted a shot from in tight into Lundqvist's midsection.
The missed chances came back to haunt the Lightning, who contributed directly to the Rangers' second goal.
Matt Carle's clearing attempt went right to Callahan, who picked off the puck between the red line and the Tampa Bay blue line and took off. He calmly came in on Garon, shifted to his forehand and scored his third of the season and first in two games since returning from a shoulder injury that forced him to miss three games.
NOTES: Rangers D Dan Girardi returned to the lineup after missing two games because of an undisclosed injury that ended his consecutive-game streak at 145, dating to Feb. 1, 2011. Steve Eminger sat out to make room for Girardi. The forward lineup remained the same, meaning veteran Brian Boyle was scratched for the second straight game. ... Lightning LW Ryan Malone was a late scratch because of a lower-body injury. It is the first game missed this season by Malone, who is day to day. Pierre--Cedric Labrie was in the lineup for the third time. ... The Lightning assigned forward Dana Tyrell to Syracuse. ... Tampa Bay hasn't scored a power-play goal in three games after connecting eight times on 16 chances. The Lightning were 0 for 2.
[Associated
Press; By IRA PODELL]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
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