Lightning fall to Rangers in overtime, 4-3

The fundamentals of the game do not often lead to fault. But breaks sometimes being what they are, they can result in unfortunate misgivings.

That's what happened to Victor Hedman, who did exactly what he was supposed to do on a play that led to a third-period tying goal as the Lightning wound up dropping a 4-3 overtime decision to the New York Rangers on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.

Former Tampa Bay center Brad Richards scored the winning goal with 2 minutes, 23 seconds left in overtime.

Steven Stamkos scored his league-leading 36th goal of the season for the Lightning, while Vinny Lecavalier and Bruno Gervais also scored. Mathieu Garon had 27 saves in taking the loss.

With the season starting to dwindle, each point lost in the standings hurts Tampa Bay's hopes of crawling back into the playoff picture. Though the Lightning remained nine points back of the Southeast Division-leading Florida Panthers, they lost an opportunity to gain ground with a victory.

"Every point is crucial, whether gained or lost, depending on how you look at it," center Dominic Moore said. "But at the same time, we just have to continue to grab every point available."

That's why Hedman's play comes to the forefront.

Along the right boards, Hedman was in perfect position to block Carl Hagelin's dump attempt into the end boards. But the puck bounced off Hedman's stick, then off his leg and into the slot. Rangers forward Brian Boyle reared back and smacked the rolling puck past Garon to tie it with 9:47 left in the third.

"I was just trying to prevent the rim (around the boards), and sometimes things happen in games. ... We got kind of jammed there, two sticks came together and the puck popped up, went there right to him, the puck was wobbling and he got a good shot off," Hedman said. "It was obviously a bad bounce."

The bad bounce nullified some good play from the Lightning, which had a chance to pick up two points against the top-ranked team in the Eastern Conference. Second-period goals by Lecavalier and Gervais — the latter a rare road power-play goal at 12:26 — erased a 2-1 deficit and gave Tampa Bay the lead after two periods.

Protecting leads has been a third-period strength for the Lightning this season, as they entered with a 15-1 record when leading after two periods. But after Richards' winner, both of those blemishes have come against the Rangers.

"I'm not thinking of the point (lost). We were up 3-2 and doing fine. ... That third (goal) was tough to swallow," Lightning coach Guy Boucher said.

Following the game, the Rangers voiced their displeasure with Moore, whose shoulder appeared to catch New York winger Ruslan Fedotenko on the chin, knocking Fedotenko out of the game. The Rangers gave no update on Fedotenko's status after the game, but several players felt it was a dirty hit.

"We're still pretty angry about that," Boyle told reporters after the game. "It's a very dirty, dirty play. We've talked about it enough. We've got to get away from that stuff."

Moore said there was no intention on the play, as he was just trying to clear space to get open for a passing attempt. Moore was penalized for roughing and most likely will get a call from the league. He said it was not revenge after Fedotenko hit Moore from behind along the boards moments earlier.

"To be honest, I was coming into the slot and trying to make myself available for a shot," Moore said. "Their guy — and I didn't know who it was until after — tried to come over and take me away. I was just trying to compete for body position, and I guess he wasn't ready for that."