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Sunday, Dec. 19 7:00pm ET
Fleury racks up 4 points vs. Tampa | |||||
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BOX SCORE
NEW YORK (AP) -- Theoren Fleury has regained confidence in his ability. Fleury scored 45 seconds into overtime and assisted on the Rangers' first three goals Sunday night to lead New York to a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. "It's fun to be productive, that's for sure," Fleury said. "I think I lost my confidence there for a while. A little extra hard work and a little confidence makes all the difference." Fleury knocked his own rebound past goaltender Dan Cloutier as he recorded his first four-point game of the season. The overtime goal saved the Rangers, who had blown a 4-2 lead with eight minutes left in the third period. Lightning coach Steve Ludzik thought the referees gave Fleury an advantage. "I see Fleury yelling and doing the same thing, screaming his head off at the official and I don't see him getting tossed out of the game," said Ludzik. Trailing 4-2, Tampa Bay got a goal from Fredrik Modin at 12:52. Steve Guolla tied the game at 4 on a power-play goal with 3:48 left in regulation. Rangers rookie defenseman Kim Johnsson put New York ahead 1-0 11:07 into the first period when his backhand shot off a Fleury pass caught Cloutier moving in the wrong direction. Fleury then set up rookie Mike York with a pass across the crease for a 2-0 Rangers lead at 15:46. Mike Sillinger scored an unassisted goal to pull Tampa Bay to within one at 2:05 of the second period. The Rangers extended the lead to 3-1 on Mathieu Schneider's slap shot from the right point at 7:57 of the second period off a pass from Fleury. Paul Mara converted a nifty pass from Vincent Lecavalier to pull Tampa Bay to within 3-2 at 16:25 of the second period. Alexandre Daigle smoothly gloved a John MacLean pass from behind his back at the blue line, dropped the puck in front of him, skated in front and took a wrist shot at the left circle that beat Cloutier for a 4-2 Rangers lead at 18:15 of the second period. The game took a toll on the Lightning, who finished the game with just three defensemen. Sergey Gusev suffered a right knee strain, Petr Svoboda left with a shoulder strain and Andrei Zyuzin didn't return because of a sore ankle. Gusev and Svoboda and will have MRI exams Monday in Tampa. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Tampa Bay Clubhouse NY Rangers Clubhouse RECAPS Phoenix 4 San Jose 3
NY Rangers 5
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