lightning 5, rangers 1

Brayden Point had two goals an an assist, Nikita Kucherov added a goal and two assists, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the New York Rangers 5-1 on Monday night.

Yanni Gourde and Brandon Hagel also scored, and Jake Guentzel had three assists for playoff-bound Tampa Bay, which was 3 for 4 on the power play. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 38 shots.

Mika Zibanejad scored for the Rangers, who lost their second straight and remain six points behind Montreal for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. Both teams have five games remaining. Igor Shesterkin finished with 18 saves.

Kucherov opened the scoring on the power-play with 6:51 left in the first period, sliding the puck past Shesterkin for his 34th goal.

Gourde made it 2-0 just 36 seconds later, and Point scored on the power play with 5:06 remaining.

Zibanejad scored his 17th goal of the season the power-play at 3:16 of the second, just the third power-play goal by the Rangers in the 45 chances.

Point scored his second of the game and team-best 41st goal on another power play with 4:20 left in the third to make it 4-1, and Hagel had an empty-netter with 2:42 remaining.

New York is 3-5-1 in its last nine games overall and fell to 18-18-3 at home one year after finishing with 30 wins at Madison Square Garden.

Tampa Bay got its 45th victory to reach that mark for an NHL-leading eighth time in 11 seasons. The Lightning are two points behind Toronto for first place in the Atlantic Division.

jets 3, blues 1

Alex Iafallo scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period and the Winnipeg Jets beat St. Louis 3-1 on Monday night, ending the Blues’ 12-game winning streak.

Morgan Barron and Adam Lowry also scored for the Jets, who got their franchise-record 53rd win. Connor Hellebuyck had 14 saves to get his 44th win and ties his franchise record from 2017-18.

Pavel Buchnevich scored and Joel Hofer had 23 saves for St. Louis, which holds the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference — two points ahead of idle Minnesota.

Iafallo gave the Jets a 2-1 lead as he scored off a rebound at 7:05 of the third. Lowry added an empty-netter with 9 seconds left to seal the win.

Winnipeg outshot St. Louis 8-3 in the first period, and the Blues led 14-3 in blocked shots.

Barron beat Blues forward Mathieu Joseph to a loose puck, curved around him and shot the puck past Hofer on the stick side for a 1-0 lead at 2:34 of the second.

Buchnevich tied it after Robert Thomas sent him a pass from behind the net out front and he beat Hellebuyck at 7:27.