Kreider, Motte each scores twice, Rangers top Lightning to gain in Metro

NEW YORK --Chris Kreider and Tyler Motte each scored two goals, and the New York Rangers moved closer to second place in the Metropolitan Division with a 6-3 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.

The Rangers (46-21-11) are three points behind the New Jersey Devils for second place. Each team has four games remaining.
"I don't want the next four [games] to be like that, but I like the way our team responded to that game," New York coach Gerard Gallant said. "Next week is going to be a different scenario, but we've got to play hard, we want to win every game. It's all about trying to get two points. You look at the standings after the games and you say, 'Well, we're in third place, we'll see what happens.' It's about getting two points and trying to move up and see what happens."

Kaapo Kakko scored for the third straight game, Mika Zibanejad had three assists and Igor Shesterkin made 28 saves.
New York has won two games in a row and is 5-1-1 in its past seven. But it played without Patrick Kane, who is day to day with a lower-body injury, and lost Jacob Trouba to an upper-body injury in the first period.
Gallant said Trouba is day to day and that he is traveling with the Rangers, who play at the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.
Darren Raddysh scored his first NHL goal, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves for the Lightning (45-27-6), who had won three straight.
Tampa Bay is third in the Atlantic Division, six points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have a game in hand, with four games remaining.
It was the Lightning's first game since clinching a Stanley Cup Playoff berth with a 5-0 win against the New York Islanders on Saturday.
"You're down 3-0 [early] into the game and by the time we get in here after the second, it's 4-3 and we easily could have been up," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "I like that. It's tough at the end."

The Rangers scored three goals on six shots in a span of 4:08 in the first period.
Kreider scored with a net-front deflection of Vladimir Tarasenko's shot at 6:13 to give New York a 1-0 lead. Kakko scored with a low shot from the right circle 1:28 later, making it 2-0 at 7:41. Motte flung a low shot off the left-wing half wall into the near side of the net for a 3-0 lead at 10:21.
"Direct hockey, closing on guys, physical, getting in battles, winning battles, advancing pucks, that was a strong game for us for the majority," Kreider said. "The thing on a lot of the goals was attacking the net, attacking the net."
Alex Killorn scored a power-play goal 19 seconds later at 10:40 with a net-front deflection of Mikhail Sergachev's shot to cut it to 3-1.
Raddysh, playing his 17th NHL game, made it 3-2 with a shot from the point at 7:10 of the second period. The goal was originally credited to Brandon Hagel but changed to Raddysh.
"We battled back," Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said. "Maybe a little bit of an exhale after clinching a playoff spot, and we can't really move because [it will be hard] to get to second place. We can't let bad habits creep into our game, but we showed we battled back and played the way we wanted."
Motte scored his second of the game 15 seconds later at 7:25 after making a move around Sergachev to give New York a 4-2 lead.

Motte finished with a game-high seven shots on goal.
"When those guys chip in with some big goals and they work hard it's good for the confidence of our team," Gallant said. "Tyler played real well tonight. He had good jump. He had a lot of shot opportunities at the net. Good for him. Put the pucks to the net. That's what we talk about all the time. Fortunately for him he got a couple nice goals tonight, and perfect for us."
Hagel brought Tampa Bay within 4-3 at 11:34, scoring on a second rebound after Shesterkin stopped Anthony Cirelli twice.
The Lightning outshot the Rangers 17-9 in the second period, but the Rangers took control in the third period, outshooting the Lightning 16-6 and outscoring them 2-0.
Kreider made it 5-3 at 11:38, cashing in on a rebound after Zibanejad played the puck between his legs to his backhand and hit the left post.

Artemi Panarin scored a power-play goal from the top of the left circle at 13:49 for the 6-3 final.
"I thought we played an outstanding period," Gallant said. "We didn't give them a whole lot of chances, scored a couple big goals. I thought it was excellent."
NOTES:There were 70 penalty minutes in the game, including 40 for fighting majors and a 10-minute misconduct. ... Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren returned after missing six straight games and 17 of 18 with an upper-body injury. He played 18:48 and was credited with two blocked shots. … New York started the game with 11 forwards and seven defensemen because of Kane's absence. … Kreider has 264 goals and passed Vic Hadfield (262) for fifth in Rangers history. … Killorn has seven points (three goals, four assists) in a five-game point streak.