Lightning at Rangers
THE STORY: Marty St. Louis joked recently that after he was signed as a free agent by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2000 he would have been pleased with 300 more shifts in the NHL. St. Louis has scored more than 300 goals since and reached the 800-point mark in his career Tuesday. The former Hart Trophy winner will now play his 500th consecutive game, the third longest active streak, when the Lightning try to snap a five-game losing streak at the New York Rangers Thursday. St. Louis has scored three goals in the last four games, but the Lightning are finding different ways to lose. The Rangers scored three goals in the third period for a 4-2 victory in Tampa last Saturday. New York had its five-game win streak snapped Monday by Toronto.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, SunSports (Tampa), MSG (New York).
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (11-14-2): Tampa Bay is suffering through
its second five-game losing streak. This time, the Lightning has had a
lead in four of them and was tied going into the third in the fifth. The
power play, eighth in the league in 2010-11, was 21st through Tuesday.
Steven Stamkos has an eight-game point streak, the longest in the NHL
this season. Vincent Lecavalier had a stretch of four goals in four
games, but has just one assist and is minus-5 in six games since.
ABOUT THE RANGERS (15-6-3): Perhaps the Rangers were just due for a loss - they had also won seven straight at home. Still, the Rangers were only down a goal until a late empty-netter. Artem Anisimov matched his career high with seven shots and netted a goal, giving him four points in three games. Brad Richards also extended his point streak to six games, in which he has four goals and six assists. Marian Gaborik recorded his team-leading 13th goal and has 296 in his career.
OVERTIME:
1. Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist broke a five-game winless streak against the Lightning last Saturday, but is 14-7-4 lifetime against Tampa Bay.
2. The Lightning has a league-high 12 road losses – two in shootouts.
3. Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh has 13 points and is a team-high plus-11.