Tampa Bay Lightning defeat New York Rangers 3-2 in fist-filled contest -NHL Update
In what seemed to be a royal rumble wrestling contest on Thursday, December 8, 2011, Tampa Bay and New York players fought to take control of the match with over 50 minutes of penalty time in the second period alone, the Lightning managed to edge the Rangers,
3-2, in a shootout decider at the sold-out Madison Square Garden in New York, New York, United States.
"We knew they would be desperate," said New York Rangers goalie, Henrik Lundqvist. "We had a couple of big chances to kill the game. Instead they came back and tied it. We just have to move on."
Mathieu Garon and Henrik Lundqvist faced nearly the same amount shots, 30-3, throughout the game but the former managed to block all three New York attempts in the shootout to allow Tampa Bay to win.
New York captain, Ryan Callahan, scored his 11th of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season during their second power play opportunity of the first 20 minute period as Tampa Bay lost Steve Downie with a minor penalty for tripping
at the 6:33 mark.
Ryan Malone got a breakaway opportunity a little over midway through the second period to level the match and get Tampa Bay on the scoreboard unassisted, which was followed by Artem Anisimov of New York exactly two minutes later to take the lead for the
home team yet again.
Tampa Bay had it tough in the third and final period of regulation as the Lightning faced three straight penalties, but as they managed to kill of the last added man advantage for New York, Dominic Moore made the shorthanded shot on Lundqvist with less than
two minutes remaining to force overtime.
"He was feeling a little guilty about what happened this morning," Tampa Bay Lightning forward, Steven Stamkos, said. "It was a tough one for him, but it shows you how mentally tough he is to come back in the game. We said we wanted to win this one for Marty.”
Tampa Bay has their last road game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday before returning home for the next two while New York will be visiting the Buffalo Sabres on the same day.
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