Panarin has 4 assists, Rangers defeat Lightning for 5th straight road win

TAMPA -- Artemi Panarin had four assists, and the New York Rangers got their fifth straight road win with a 7-3 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena on Wednesday.

Vincent Trocheck and Will Cuylle each scored twice, and Adam Fox had two assists for the Rangers (9-7-2), who are 8-1-1 on the road this season. Igor Shesterkin made 33 saves.

Trocheck’s goals were his first of the season, coming in his fourth game.

"It's always good to see the puck going into the net," Trocheck said. "But you look at this one for a day, go over the things we did wrong, try to correct them and focus on Columbus (on Saturday)."

Jake Guentzel, Zemgus Girgensons and Scott Sabourin scored for the Lightning (8-6-2), who had won two straight. Andrei Vasilevskiy gave up a goal on each of the first three shots he faced and made eight saves on 13 shots before being pulled after the second period. Jonas Johansson made six saves.

Lightning forward Brandon Hagel left the game with an undisclosed injury at 7:08 of the first period after a hit from Rangers defenseman Carson Soucy. Coach Jon Cooper did not have an update on him.

Tampa Bay was also without defensemen Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh, each because of an undisclosed injury, and forwards Anthony Cirelli (undisclosed), Pontus Holmberg (undisclosed), Dominic James (undisclosed) and Nick Paul (upper body).

"You take out seven regulars, of course it's going to be a little bit of [an] effect," Cooper said. "… Looking at the way the game went, there were so many things I really liked about our team and our compete and all the things that went on."

Cuylle gave New York a 1-0 lead at 1:09 of the first period with a power-play goal. He scored on a rebound at the left post after Fox’s shot deflected off Tampa Bay defenseman Erik Cernak and bounced off the end boards.

"The irony of it is I feel like the games where we didn't score, the effort and execution on both sides of the puck was really high,” Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought, tonight, I don't think we were at our best. We were opportunistic. We had some pretty good looks and we scored on them. You could say the same about the last game (6-3 win against the Nashville Predators on Monday)."

J.T. Miller made it 2-0 at 3:31. Mika Zibanejad intercepted a pass by Nikita Kucherov in the neutral zone and sent the puck toward the net before it deflected off of Cernak’s skate, then went off Miller's skate and past Vasilevskiy.

Sabourin cut it to 2-1 at 6:04 when he sent a wrist shot past Shesterkin high on the glove side from the left circle. Sabourin, who was making his Lightning debut in his first NHL game this season after being called up from Syracuse of the American Hockey League on Wednesday, scored his first NHL goal since Feb. 29, 2020, with the Ottawa Senators.

Alexis Lafreniere extended the Rangers lead to 3-1 at 7:08 when he finished a 3-on-2 rush with a wrist shot from the right circle to the far post.

"I think we've scored a lot of goals the past two games, but we're not doing anything different," Panarin said. "It's just the puck is going in the net."

Girgensons pulled the Lightning within 3-2 at 13:59, one-timing a rebound from the slot.

"We caught a couple of unlucky breaks early on and then the game is different after that," Lightning defenseman J.J. Moser said. "But hats off to them. They made good plays, but it was challenging after [falling behind 2-0]. We showed a lot of resilience as a team to fight back after that start."

Will Borgen gave New York a 4-2 lead at 16:20 with a shot from the point that deflected off the stick of Tampa Bay defenseman Charles-Edouard D'Astous.

"It was amazing how many unfortunate bounces went against us," Cooper said. "And I felt bad for the guys because they were working. Off the stick, top corner ... off a foot, in the net. That was probably the frustrating part for me."

Guentzel then cut it to 4-3 at 17:32 on a short-handed breakaway.

"I thought most of the game our effort was good, but at the end of the day we lost and we have to turn the page and focus on [Saturday]," Tampa Bay forward Yanni Gourde said. "Obviously you want to win every single time you go out there. Digging a hole that early was not how we wanted to start the game."

Trocheck pushed it to 5-3 at 18:19 of the second period with a shot from low in the right circle that got past Vasilevskiy when the goalie lost his footing and fell trying to get into position.

Trocheck’s second goal, at 5:03 of the third period, extended the lead to 6-3 before Cuylle scored his second of the game, an empty-net goal at 17:49 to make it a 7-3 final.

"I think sometimes you're squeezing the stick too tight and you're getting the chances but they're not going in," Trocheck said. "I think you just stay at it and keep doing all the right things, the puck's eventually going to go in."

NOTES: It was Panarin’s sixth career game with four or more assists, tied with Kucherov for third among all players since Panarin entered the NHL in 2015-16, behind Edmonton Oilers forwards Connor McDavid (11) and Leon Draisaitl (nine). It was also Panarin’s second four-point game of the season; he had a goal and three assists in a 4-3 win at the Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 18. ... Lightning forwards Curtis Douglas and Jack Finley each assisted on Sabourin's goal for his first NHL point. It was Douglas’ 10th career game and Finley’s sixth.