LIGHTNING STIKES IN 11TH

VERSUS    

NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES AND QUOTES

December 23, 2010 – New York Rangers 3, Tampa Bay Lightning 4 SO (Game No. 36, Home No. 18)

Click Here For The Official Game Summary

• The Rangers were defeated by the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-3, in a shootout tonight at Madison Square Garden, and are now 20-14-2 overall and 8-8-2 at home.  New York has registered a point in 14 of their last 21 games (14-7-1 over the span).
• The shootout lasted 11 rounds, which is tied for the sixth longest in NHL history, and longest since Detroit and Nashville required an 11-round shootout to decide their contest on Mar. 27, 2010.  The 11-round shootout is the third longest in Rangers history, behind their NHL record 15-round shootout on Nov. 26, 2005 vs. Washington (3-2, 4-3 in the shootout) and a 13-round shootout at Philadelphia on Oct. 7, 2006 (5-4, 1-0 in the shootout).  Henrik Lundqvist was in net for both contests.
• Henrik Lundqvist stopped 21 of 24 shots through regulation and overtime, and turned aside eight of 11 shootout attempts, and is now 14-12-2 overall with a 4-6-2 mark at home.  He is now 7-4-1 with a 1.88 goals against average, a .931 save percentage and three shutouts in his last 12 games.  Lundqvist is 31-22 with a .751 save percentage in 53 career shootouts.
• Derek Stepan tallied the game-tying goal at 11:18 of the third period to extend his goal streak to three games (three goals), and send the game into overtime.  He has now registered 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) in the last 20 games.
• Ruslan Fedotenko and Alex Frolov notched goals in a 12-second span mid-way through the first period to give the Rangers a one-goal lead after surrendering an early goal.  Fedotenko also led New York and tied for the game-high with three blocked shots.  Frolov has now registered five points (two goals, three assists) in the last five games.
• Brian Boyle tallied the lone assist on Fedotenko’s goal at 11:16 of the first period, and was credited with a team-high, five hits.  He has now registered seven points (two goals, five assists) in the last nine games.
• Artem Anisimov and Chris Drury each recorded an assist on Frolov’s goal at 11:28 of the first period.  Anisimov also led all skaters with six shots on goal, and has registered four points (two goals, two assists) in the last five games.  Drury won a game-high, 11 faceoffs in 16 attempts (69%), and has tallied two assists in the last three contests.
• Brandon Dubinsky and Matt Gilroy registered one assist apiece on Stepan’s game-tying goal at 11:18 of the third period.  Dubinsky finished the contest with five shots on goal and led all forwards with 20:42 of ice time.
• Erik Christensen and Mats Zuccarello each tallied a shootout goal for the Rangers.  Christensen improved to 21-38 (55.3%) all-time in the shootout with 10 game-deciding goals.  Christensen’s 10 game-deciding goals is tied for fifth in the NHL all-time and his 21 shootout goals is tied for sixth, while he ranks seventh all-time with a 55.3% career shooting percentage in the shootout.  Zuccarello logged 17:52 of ice time while making his NHL debut after being recalled from Connecticut (AHL) yesterday.
• The Blueshirts’ next practice is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 26, at the MSG Training Center.
• The Rangers will return to action when they face-off against the New York Islanders on Monday, Dec. 27, at Madison Square Garden (7:00 p.m.).  The game will be televised live on MSG Network and can be heard on 1050 ESPN Radio and www.newyorkrangers.com.

POST-GAME QUOTES

John Tortorella on the team’s ability to come back…

“I think we grind.  We don’t have (Marian) Gaborik.  We have some major guys out of the lineup.  Again, like I said, I like the hockey team.  It is a team that continues to play, continues to grind.  The things that we do…we have to work our (tails) off to score a goal.  I have a lot of respect for the guys because we didn’t get frustrated.  We gave them a couple but we battled back.  I am not down.  I know they are because they didn’t win, but there was some good stuff that happened tonight as far as how we have to play.”

Mats Zuccarello on tonight’s game…

“To lose a game is always tough.  We are not happy with that.  We felt like we should have gotten two points.”

Derek Stepan on tonight’s game…

“We have to be happy with how we grinded and how we played.  Other than a couple of breakdowns that ended up in the back of the net we played exactly the way we wanted to.”

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