The Tampa Bay Lightning had two goals on Thursday night when they took on the New York Rangers: first, respond to the lackluster effort they put forth on Wednesday when they lost in overtime to the Islanders; second, head into the Christmas break as the Southeast Division leader. They accomplished both those goals with an extended 11-round shootout victory in Madison Square Garden.
The Bolts got off to a quick start when Marty St. Louis intercepted a pass at center ice and beat Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist with a beautiful shot to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead. For St. Louis, the unassisted goal at the 2:00 minute mark of the first period was his 14th goal of the year. For the Lightning, it was a huge goal to help erase the bad taste left over from the Islanders game the night prior. The Rangers would strike back at the 11:16 mark of the first, when former Lightning playoff hero Ruslan Fedotenko scored his sixth goal of the year at to tie the game at one.
This article appears in Dec 23-29, 2010.