Rangers vs. Lightning: Alexis Lafreniere Scores Twice as Dylan Garand Keeps the Garden Perfect

On Broadway, the understudy who nails the part on short notice becomes the story. A short walk from the theater district at Madison Square Garden, Dylan Garand is auditioning for the same role, and on Tuesday night the crowd was chanting his name by the final buzzer.

Alexis Lafreniere scored twice to stretch his goal streak to a career-best four games, Garand made 25 saves, and the New York Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 to stay perfect at home. Will Cuylle and Mika Zibanejad also scored as the Rangers snapped Tampa Bay's four-game winning streak.

Sixty-Two Seconds

The Rangers did not bother with a feeling-out process. Tye Kartye harassed Victor Hedman into coughing up the puck, and when his first feed got knocked back behind the goal line, he simply went and got it again. His second try squeezed past J.T. Miller and found Lafreniere alone in the slot, and Andrei Vasilevskiy was beaten from close range 62 seconds in.

"Luckily, it went through J.T. and right to 'Laf,' but good job being both on the inside," Kartye said.

The second goal was prettier. At 12:47, Kartye flipped a stretch pass out of his own end, and Lafreniere slipped behind Hedman and Anthony Cirelli, settled the puck without breaking stride and finished on the forehand. It was his team-leading seventh goal.

"Part of our system is to slash so you should be there and he was," Kartye explained.

Things got spicy at 14:17, when Jeff Viel and Matt Rempe dropped the gloves and both went off for fighting. Tampa Bay then found life late in the period, as Zemgus Girgensons kept the puck on a 2-on-1 with Ilya Mikheyev and beat Garand over the left shoulder at 17:26 for his first goal of the season. It was 2-1, and the Lightning had a pulse.

The Turning Point: Cuylle Restores the Cushion

The second period was a special-teams stalemate. Erik Cernak and Braden Schneider each took minors, and neither power play could convert. With the Lightning hanging around, the Rangers needed one more push, and Cuylle supplied it at 18:26. Sean Durzi let a shot go from the point, and Cuylle redirected it from between the hash marks past Vasilevskiy for a 3-1 lead.

That goal changed the math. Instead of a one-goal game heading into the third, Tampa Bay had to chase two, and Garand was not interested in giving anything back. He made several key saves in the third period, and the Garden started serenading him with "Dylan, Dylan" chants.

The final nail came with the Rangers short-handed. Kartye was called for interference at 15:34, Tampa Bay pulled Vasilevskiy for the extra attacker, and Zibanejad stole the puck from Brayden Point and slid it into the empty net at 17:16. NHL.com noted it was his 14th career short-handed goal with New York, tying Don Maloney for the third most in franchise history behind Mark Messier and Adam Graves.

Star Watch

Alexis Lafreniere: Two goals in 19:23. NHL.com noted he has seven goals during his four-game goal streak, which began with a hat trick against the Islanders on Oct. 6, and a six-game point streak with seven goals and three assists. The former No. 1 pick in the 2020 draft has a career high of 28 goals, set in 2023-24, according to the AP. He wanted to talk about the group. "Our team is playing well," he said. "All four lines are playing good. We're playing a complete team game."

Tye Kartye: Two primary assists, both on Lafreniere goals. He also scored twice in New York's previous game, a 6-2 home win over Vancouver.

Dylan Garand: 25 saves on 26 shots in his second straight start since Igor Shesterkin was lost for the season with a lower-body injury. NHL.com noted that Garand, now 5-0-1, matched Shesterkin and Cam Talbot for the fewest starts by a goaltender to reach five career wins with the Rangers. "That felt really good," he said of the chants. "Honestly it kind of felt a little weird. It's typically reserved for 'Shesty.'"

Will Cuylle: A goal and 11 hits. He was everywhere.

Adam Fox and Marcus Pettersson: Two assists each, with Fox blocking four shots.

Andrei Vasilevskiy: 19 saves on 22 shots.

Stats That Matter

• 5-0-0: The Rangers' home record, with every win coming in regulation.
• 37-22: New York's advantage in hits, 11 of them from Cuylle.
• 61.1 percent: The Rangers' faceoff rate, with Miller winning 16 of 20.
• 0 for 4: Both power plays. The only special-teams goal was Zibanejad's short-handed empty-netter.
• 9-2: The combined score of Tampa Bay's two losses this season, both against the Rangers at the Garden.

What It Means

The Rangers move to 6-2-0 with 12 points, and the home cooking is historic. According to the AP, this is just the third time the franchise has won its first five home games, after six straight to open 1983-84 and eight in 1990-91. NHL.com added that the Rangers had nine regulation home wins all of last season and did not get their fifth home win until Dec. 20. Coach Mike Sullivan credited the room. "I'll point to our leadership," he said. "I couldn't be more proud of them." The Rangers visit New Jersey on Thursday.

Tampa Bay falls to 4-2-0, and both of its losses have come here, including a 5-1 defeat in the Oct. 1 opener. Coach Jon Cooper was not in a forgiving mood. "I don't know what it is, but it was dreadful tonight. The execution, I couldn't believe it," he said. The Lightning host Seattle on Thursday.

Closing Take

Cooper summed up the series so far with refreshing honesty. "But give the Rangers credit, they deserved both games," he said. Two meetings, two lopsided results, and a goalie the Garden has decided it likes. The Rangers lost their starter, and the show has not missed a beat. Every great run needs a breakout star, and this one has two: Lafreniere filling the net at one end and Garand guarding the other like it owes him rent.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press; postgame quotes and notes as reported by NHL.com.