| NEW YORK—The last time the New York Rangers scored eight goals was on Jan. 23, 2002. Almost exactly eight years later, the Rangers matched that feat with an 8–2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. The victory along with the 6–2 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday mark the first time in nearly three years that the Rangers have scored six goals or more in back-to-back games. Before the game, Rangers head coach John Tortorella said, “We had a little bit of edge to our game and that’s something very important that we need to do consistently.” The Blueshirts have now brought that edge to two straight home games. Tortorella also addressed questions about possible difficulties he may have with playing against the team he led to a 2004 Stanley Cup. “We don’t spend much time talking about the other team. We have enough concerns of ours,” he said. The scoring concerns centered around the fact that before the Montreal game, the Blueshirts had only scored one goal in the previous three games combined, not surprisingly resulting in three losses. However, the offensive problems appear to be a thing of the past as eight different Rangers scored against the Lightning, the first time that’s happened since 1992. Brandon Dubinsky, Vinny Prospal, Chris Drury, Daniel Girardi, Enver Lisin, Marc Staal, Aaron Voros, and Christopher Higgins all scored. Ironically, Marian Gaborik, the team leader with 29 goals didn’t score but he did record four assists, which tied his personal best dating back to Oct. 26, 2002 when he was a member of the Minnesota Wild. Sixteen Rangers players finished with at least one point, tying a team record. Dubinsky said, “We have to keep staying aggressive. I think we got a lot of veteran guys in there, a lot of guys that have proven in this league they can score. “We just knew it was a matter of time. Some guys are stepping up right now.” The goaltending battle between Henrik Lundqvist and Antero Niittymaki did not live up to its hype. Lundqvist led Sweden to a 4–3 victory over Niittymaki and Finland in the gold medal game of the 2006 Olympics, but it was Niittymaki who received the award for MVP. On Tuesday night, Niittymaki was beaten by Dubinsky less than two minutes into the game from the top of the crease. After allowing five goals on just 20 shots, Niittymaki was sent for an early shower with 4:21 left in the second period. His replacement, Dustin Tokarski, did not fare much better. Tokarski allowed three goals on 11 shots. Lundqvist, on the other hand, continued his stellar play this season and hasn’t allowed more than two goals since December. The two Tampa Bay scores came from Lightning captain Vincent Lecavalier and Alex Tanguay. The Rangers climbed into sixth place in the Eastern Conference with the big win. They travel to face the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday hoping to avenge a 6–0 pasting from late December. | |||||
