The New York Rangers are rolling on home ice, but their biggest test of the young season awaits.
New York puts its season-opening four-game home winning streak on the line Tuesday night when it hosts the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are seeking their fifth straight win.
New York is off to its first 4-0-0 start at home since the 2009-10 season. It leads the NHL with 20 home goals.
The strong start is happening a year after the Rangers lost their first seven home games (0-6-1) and scored 104 goals in 41 games at home — the second-lowest home total in the NHL.
New York’s first three home wins this season were with Igor Shesterkin in goal. The fourth win was an impressive response to losing the star goaltender to a season-ending lower-body injury.
Shesterkin was hurt in the second period of Friday’s 3-1 loss to the Capitals in Washington. The Rangers responded with a 6-2 rout of the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden.
Tye Kartye and Will Cuylle each scored twice as New York netted at least five goals for the third time this season. Alexis Lafreniere had a goal and an assist. He has five goals so far; last season, he scored his fifth goal in New York’s 24th game.
“I think there’s a maturity to this group,” Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said. “These guys, they haven’t lost any level of enthusiasm. I think they believe in the team game we’re trying to build here, and I think they will continue to compete. At the end of the day, that’s our challenge and that’s the discussion we had. Expectations don’t change. It’s the ‘next man up’ mentality. It’s going to provide opportunities for others — take advantage of it.”
Those goals against the Canucks supported Dylan Garand, who is New York’s new No. 1 goalie in the wake of Shesterkin’s injury. Garand is 4-1-1 with a 1.43 goals-against average in six career appearances.
In its home opener on Oct. 1, New York rolled to a 5-1 win over the Lightning. Since then, Tampa Bay has outscored the Capitals, Philadelphia Flyers, Minnesota Wild and New York Islanders by a combined 15-7 in its four-game winning streak.
The first three wins were at home. Tampa Bay earned a 5-3 win over the Islanders on Saturday night in Elmont, N.Y.
Brandon Hagel capped his fourth career hat trick with two goals in 21 seconds in the third period. The second one was an empty-net tally. Hagel also had an assist, giving him four goals and eight points during the winning streak.
Tampa Bay fought back for the win after blowing a two-goal second-period lead.
“You don’t want to sit and say Game 1 of 84, the season hinges on that,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said Monday about the season-opening loss to the Rangers. “But you look back now, I’m maybe not as upset otherwise that it happened. What I like is that the team has responded and that’s a good sign.”
Jake Guentzel scored twice on Saturday, giving him six points during the winning streak. Nikita Kucherov had two assists against the Islanders and has seven assists during the winning streak after scoring in the season opener against the Rangers.
Guentzel scored a power-play goal Saturday. The Lightning are 2-for-7 with the man advantage in the last two games after going scoreless in 13 power-play opportunities in their first three.
