The Rangers have been nearly unbeatable at Madison Square Garden this postseason, but the Presidents' Trophy winners were dominant on the road Friday night.
The Rangers evened the Eastern Conference finals at two games apiece with a 5-1 win over the Lightning at Amalie Arena.
After giving up 12 goals in the previous two games against the Lightning, Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist stopped 38 shots while surrendering just one goal.
"I wanted to be aggressive, but I still wanted to be more relaxed," Lundqvist told NBC Sports Network after the game. "I made a few adjustments and talked with the goalie coaches. It's great when it comes to guidance and giving me support. It's been pretty tough the last 48 hours.
"When you give up a lot of goals, you start questioning, 'Am I positioned right? Am I competing enough?' There are so many questions, sometimes you just have to let it go. Playing (the Lightning) there are so many chances, sometimes it's hard to get the right answer."
The Rangers struck first when Rick Nash skated in front of Lightning goalie Ben Bishop before backhanding the puck into the net late in the first period.
After the Lightning tied the game in the second period on a Steven Stamkos goal, the Rangers responded with two scores just 1:48 apart. Chris Kreider's wrister with 4:44 remaining in the second helped the Rangers regain their lead. New York took a 3-1 lead when Keith Yandle's slap shot deflected off the left of Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman and bounced past Lightning goalie Ben Bishop.
"After we scored the third one, we took control of the game," Lundqvist said. "After that, we took it over."
The Rangers added two more goals in the third period. The first came from Martin St. Louis, who got his first goal this postseason five minutes into the period. That was followed by Nash's second goal of the game, a front-porch rebound off a Yandle shot from the blue line.
The series is now down to a best-of-three, beginning with Game 5 back in New York on Sunday night (8 ET, NBCSN).
"This was such an important game for us to come back and, not only win, but find a way to win even though it didn't look perfect," Lundqvist said. "In the playoffs, it's all about finding ways."
Highlights :
Nash's first-period goal was a thing of beauty and deflected in off of Bishop's left skate.
It was just that kind of night for Bishop.
Saturday's game : Western Conference finals, Game 4, Ducks at Blackhawks, 8 p.m. ET, NBC (Anaheim leads series 2-1)