Rangers crush Lightning, 5-1, ...

Rangers crush Lightning, 5-1, behind Artemi Panarin's hat trick

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Artemi Panarin scored three goals, Igor Shesterkin made 34 saves on his 28th birthday, and the NHL-leading New York Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1 on Saturday night.

Vincent Trocheck had a goal and three assists, and Chris Kreider also scored for New York. Alexis Lafrenière had two assists, and Mika Zibanejad had an assist for a career-high 10-game point streak.

The Rangers are the first team to reach 50 points for the first time since winning their last Stanley Cup in 1993-94. New York, which lost 4-3 at Florida on Friday night, is 6-0 in the second of back-to-back games this season.

Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 16 shots and NHL points leader Nikita Kucherov scored his 25th goal.

The Lightning’s 39 points through 37 games is one behind their total after the same number of games in 2016-17, which was the last time they missed the playoffs.

Panarin had two third-period goals, including one on a power play to complete his sixth hat trick. He entered with two goals in 17 previous games against Tampa Bay.

Lightning captain Steven Stamkos played in his 1,037th game to tie Vincent Lecavalier’s team record for most games and had an assist.

Shesterkin turned aside Stamkos’ slot shot in the second and Victor Hedman’s in-close third-period chance. He is 6-0-1 against Tampa Bay.

Panarin scored 1:51 into the game off a pass from Trocheck during a 2-on-none that came about when Hedman fell going for the puck at the defensive blue line. He has a four-game goal streak.

Trocheck made it 2-0 at 7:36 of the first when he poked home a loose puck in the crease.

After Kucherov had a power-play goal late in the second, Kreider reinstated the two-goal lead to complete a 2-on-1 just 51 seconds later. Kreider has a point in six straight games.

UP NEXT

Rangers: Host Carolina on Tuesday night.

Lightning: Play Sunday night at home against Montreal.