The Tampa Bay Lightning are officially rolling.
Behind a red-hot Brandon Hagel and the ever-dangerous Nikita Kucherov, the Bolts cruised to a 4-1 win over the New York Rangers on Saturday night, extending their win streak to seven games and evening the season series with the Blueshirts at one apiece.
Let’s start with Hagel, who’s in the kind of groove scorers dream about. He found the back of the net twice, pushing his goal streak to five straight games.
His first came midway through the opening period - a slick wrist shot that beat the Rangers’ netminder clean. Darren Raddysh and Kucherov set it up, with Kucherov doing what he does best: creating space and threading the puck with precision.
Hagel struck again in the second, this time off another feed from Kucherov, with Raddysh once again picking up a helper. It was a textbook transition play - quick, decisive, and clinical. When Hagel’s finishing like this and Kucherov’s in full playmaker mode, Tampa’s offense becomes a handful for even the stingiest defenses.
The Rangers did get on the board thanks to J.T. Miller, who redirected a shot past the Lightning goaltender to cut into the deficit. Adam Fox and Mika Zibanejad picked up the assists, but that would be the lone bright spot for New York in an otherwise frustrating night.
Tampa came right back early in the third. Just over two minutes in, Nick Paul buried the Lightning’s third goal, with - you guessed it - Kucherov notching his third assist of the night. Charles-Édouard D’Astous also chipped in with an assist on the play, helping stretch the lead and snuff out any hopes of a Rangers comeback.
Jake Guentzel sealed the deal with an empty-netter in the final seconds, a wrist shot that made it 4-1 and put the exclamation point on a complete team effort. Yanni Gourde and Raddysh added assists, with Raddysh quietly picking up his 13th of the season - a nice milestone for the blueliner who’s been quietly effective all year.
This win not only evens the season series with the Rangers - who handed Tampa a 7-3 loss back on November 12 - but also sends a clear message: the Lightning are finding their rhythm. After a slow start to the season, they’ve now rattled off seven straight wins and are beginning to look like the dangerous, playoff-tested group we’ve come to expect.
There’s one more meeting between these two teams, set for April 15 at Benchmark International Arena. With the series tied 1-1, that game could carry extra weight - not just for bragging rights, but potentially for playoff positioning as well.
For now, the Lightning shift their focus to Tuesday night, when they’ll stay in New York to take on the Islanders. If this current stretch is any indication, Tampa’s just getting warmed up.