Lafreniere’s two goals power Rangers to 4-1 victory over Lightning

Alexis Lafreniere continued the best scoring surge of his NHL career on Tuesday, pumping home two more goals to help the New York Rangers remain perfect at Madison Square Garden by defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1.

Lafreniere extended his goal streak to four games and his point streak to five by beating Andrei Vasilevskiy twice in less that 12 minutes in the first period. The two-goal night moved him into the NHL lead with seven.

“I don’t know,” he said when asked if he’d ever had a hot streak like this. “Our team’s playing well. All four lines are playing good. Right now we’re playing a complete team game so it’s fun to watch”

Will Cuylle scored on a deflection late in the second period, and the three goals were more than enough for rookie Dylan Garand. The 24-year-old made 25 saves and won his second straight start after taking over the No. 1 goaltending job following Igor Shesterkin’s season-ending injury on Friday. Mika Zibanejad added a shorthanded empty-netter with 2:44 remaining.

Zemgus Girgensons was the only Lightning player to beat Garand, who has yet to allow more than two non-shootout goals in any of his six NHL starts. Vasilevskiy finished with 18 saves but fell to 7-11-2 lifetime against the Rangers, his worst record against any opponent. The Lightning dropped to 4-2-0, with both losses coming against the Rangers.

The Blueshirts improved to 5-0-0 at the Garden this season — a huge turnaround from last season, when they started 0-6-1 at home and won just 14 times in front of their own fans. It’s just the third time in franchise history that the Blueshirts have won their first five at home.

The Rangers take their 6-2-0 record on the road for the next two games, both against Metropolitan Division opponents. They visit the New Jersey Devils on Thursday and the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.

Alexis Lafreniere’s two-goal night helps Rangers top Lightning 4-1

For the second straight game, the Rangers jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead. Tye Kartye controlled the puck behind the Tampa Bay net and slid a pass into the slot, where Lafreniere snagged it and whipped a shot past Vasilevskiy’s glove at 1:02.

The Rangers continued to dominate play in the early going. New York had four shots on goal during its first power play after Lightning defenseman John Carlson was sent off for slashing at 3:03. Adam Fox, who had the second assist on Lafreniere’s goal, nearly made doubled the lead soon after the power play expired; his shot through traffic beat Vasilevskiy but hit the post.

Lafreniere made it 2-0 at 12:47 on what looked like a nothing play. Kartye controlled the puck to the left of his own net and lobbed a clearing pass into the neutral zone. Lafreniere controlled the puck, swung past Anthony Cirelli and went in alone, beating Vasilevskiy with a wrist shot. It was his seventh goal of the season, moving him into the League lead.

Matt Rempe, back in the lineup for the first time since opening night, got into a scrap with Lightning forward Jeffrey Viel at 14:17. Both got fighting majors, but the fight seemed to energize Tampa Bay, which began to control the play.

The Bolts got on the board at 17:26 when Girgensons raced unchecked down right wing, moved down near the face-off dot and zipped a high wrist shot that beat Garand to the short side.

The Rangers didn’t have another shot on goal after Lafreniere’s goal and ended the period trailing 9-8 in shots and 22-13 in attempts.

Neither team did much offensively during the first 18 minutes of the second period. The Rangers went nearly eight minutes without a shot on goal and appeared destined to take their one-goal lead into the locker room before Cuylle wound up in the right place at the right time.

Sean Durzi teed up a straightaway slap shot, and Viel pushed Cuylle into the slot, where he deflected the puck past Vasilevskiy at 18:26 for his third goal of the season, putting New York ahead 3-1 after 40 minutes.

As they’ve done in the third period of most of their victories, the Rangers played smart but aggressive hockey in the third period, limiting Tampa Bay’s zone time and scoring opportunities. Garand’s best stop came with 5:31 remaining when he denied Brayden Point on a spinning backhander from the slot. The save generated chants of “Dy-lan” from the crowd of 17,076.

Tampa Bay got a late power play when Kartye was called for goaltender interference with 4:26 to play, and Bolts coach Jon Cooper pulled Vasilevskiy to make it a 6-on-4 advantage. But Garand and his teammates held the Lightning off the board until Zibanejad iced the win by hitting the empty net.

There was nothing left for the Rangers to do but play out the remaining time before bathing in the kind of applause they rarely heard at the Garden last season.

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