 PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) - Wade Redden and Scott Gomez each scored second-period goals and the New York Rangers rallied to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 Sunday to sweep their two-game, season-opening series in Europe.
The Lightning had only three shots on goal in the opening period, but went up 1-0 when Adam Hall scored after Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist partially blocked Andrej Meszaros' shot with 1:43 remaining.
Redden, who signed a six-year, $39 million free-agent deal with the Rangers during the summer, tied it with a power-play goal 3:47 into the second period when he blasted a shot past Lightning goalie Olaf Kolzig off a pass from Markus Naslund.
Gomez scored into an empty net at 12:12 into the period after winger Aaron Voros deflected a shot by Redden. Lightning center Steven Stamkos, the No. 1 pick in this year's draft, hit the crossbar late in the period and both teams missed a number of scoring chances.
Kolzig made 37 saves, and Lundqvist stopped 18 shots.
The Rangers also won 2-1 on Saturday in the season opener and will return home with four points already in the bank. This marked the second straight year the NHL began the season in Europe, building off games in 2007 between Los Angeles and Anaheim in London.
The Pittsburgh Penguins played the Ottawa Senators in Stockholm, Sweden, later Sunday in another regular-season series the NHL hopes will increase the league's European presence.
As they did on Saturday, the Rangers widely outshot the Lightning.
The veteran Kolzig, playing his first NHL game with a different team after spending his first 16 seasons with the Washington Capitals, got the start over Saturday's goalie Mike Smith.
Kolzig made 23 saves before Redden finally got a puck past him.
Fans packed the 17,000-seat O2 Arena for the second straight day to see the first NHL games in the Czech Republic even though the cheapest tickets were 20 times more expensive than the same ticket for a Czech league game.
Forward Ryan Malone of the Lightning and Voros drew big cheers midway through the first period during their brief fight.
The crowd missed Jaromir Jagr, the former Rangers captain who left New York as a free agent and signed with Avangard Omsk of the KHL in Russia. The Rangers, however, had Czech natives Petr Prucha and Michal Rozsival in the lineup, while Tampa Bay countered with Vaclav Prospal and Radim Vrbata.
It was the fifth time the NHL began its season outside of North America, with the other three times in Japan in 1997, 1998 and 2000.
The Rangers will host the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night in their first game back, and the Lightning will welcome the Carolina Hurricanes to Tampa on Saturday. |