TAMPA (620 WDAE) -- Steven Stamkos had his first hat trick in over four years, and Ryan McDonagh's second period tally proved to be the difference, as the Tampa Bay Lightning extended their win streak to seven straight games with a 3-2 victory Monday over the New York Rangers.
Kevin Hayes got the Rangers out to a first-period lead midway through the first twenty minutes, getting credit for his sixth goal of the year as his centering pass deflected off McDonagh's skate and past Louis Domingue for a 1-0 advantage.
Stamkos wasted little time getting the game back even, as he took advantage of an interference penalty to Marc Staal to blast his 13th goal of the season.
Hayes broke the tie 58 seconds later with a shot that beat Domingue, and the Rangers would head to the locker room after 20 minutes up by a goal.
Stamkos tied the game less than seven minutes into the second after Neal Pionk took a tripping penalty, beating Lundqvist to notch goal number 14 on the year and a second straight game with multiple goals, and McDonagh's slap shot from the left circle a few minutes later gave Tampa Bay the lead for good.
Domingue held on to the one goal lead for nearly 20 minutes of game play, until Anthony Cirelli gave the Bolts some breathing room midway through the third, and Stamkos finished off the hat trick 35 seconds later.
Jesper Fast cut the Tampa Bay lead back to two goals with just over two minutes to play, but Cirelli added an empty-net goal to finish the scoring.
The Lightning improve to 24-7-1 on the season and 6-0-0 in the month of December, leading the NHL with 49 points. They welcome the Toronto Maple Leafs to Amalie Arena Thursday.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st Period
- NYR: GOAL - Kevin Hayes (6). ASSISTS - Strome, Namestnikov. TIME - 12:19.
- TBL: GOAL (PP) - Steven Stamkos (13). ASSISTS - Hedman, Miller. TIME - 14:09
- NYR: GOAL - Kevin Hayes (7). ASSIST - Vesey. TIME - 15:07
2nd Period
- TBL: GOAL - Steven Stamkos (14). ASSISTS - Hedman, Point. TIME - 6:19.
- TBL: GOAL - Ryan McDonagh (3). ASSISTS - Point, Kucherov. TIME - 12:42
3rd Period
- TBL: GOAL - Anthony Cirelli (7). ASSIST - Cernak. TIME - 10:17.
- TBL: GOAL - Steven Stamkos (15). ASSISTS - Palat, Coburn. TIME - 10:42.
- NYR: GOAL - Jesper Fast (3). ASSIST - Chytil. TIME - 17:34.
- TBL: GOAL - Anthony Cirelli (8). ASSISTS - Killorn, Miller. TIME - 19:21