Rangers Tie Up Lightning

Even with one point, the New York Rangers might not have enough to grab a playoff spot.

Brian Leetch's goal at 6:22 of the third period earned the struggling New York Rangers a 4-4 tie Wednesday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Rangers, with only one win is six games (1-4-1), are in a four-way tie for seventh place in the Eastern Conference with Montreal, Pittsburgh and Carolina. Each team has 70 points, but New York only has 10 games left.

Leetch fired a high 35-foot slap shot from the left side that beat Rich Parent, who was down on the play.

Theoren Fleury, Eric Lacroix and Valeri Kamensky also scored for New York, which got 26 saves from back-up goalie Kirk McLean, including a dynamite glove save on Pavel Kubina with 1:28 left in overtime.

Vincent Lecavalier and Paul Mara each had a goal and assist for the Lightning, which earned consecutive points on the road for the first tie since Dec. 4 and 6. Dwayne Hay and Stan Drulia also scored for Tampa Bay. Parent made 36 saves.

The Rangers continued a season long streak of not losing when they've scored at least four goals, but the tie was the first after 21 straight wins. Earning only one point against Tampa Bay, which has the second-fewest points in the NHL, hurts New York's playoff chances.

"The rest of us have to pick up the offensive slack," forward Adam Graves said. "Theo, Yorkie (Mike York, two assists) and Val did a great job."

The Lightning, who won at Montreal on Tuesday night, haven't won consecutive road games since Feb. 7 and 25, 1998, both at Washington. Tampa Bay hasn't beaten the Rangers in five games (0-4-1).

McLean started in place of Mike Richter, whose left knee swelled up during Monday night's loss to Dallas. The Rangers recalled Jean-Francois Labbe to serve as the backup.

The Lightning grabbed a 1-0 lead 68 seconds into the game when Lecavalier scored his team leading 21st goal.

Hay scored his first NHL goal at 5:40 off a back-handed wraparound between McLean's pads for a 2-0 lead.

Rangers coach John Muckler called a time-out to yell at his players. They responded 1:06 later when Fleury deflected in York's cross-ice pass.

"I thought Muck made a good call by calling the time-out," McLean said. "We came back a lot stronger after that."

Fleury scored his first goal in nine games when York's pass hit him and went in. Then Lacroix tied it at 12:06 when Parent couldn't cover a loose puck. Lacroix pulled it away and then sent it into the net.

Kamensky gave the Rangers the lead at 2:27 of the second, tipping Stephane Quintal's right-point slap shot past Parent.

A pair of power-play goals put Tampa Bay back ahead. Drulia tied it at 13:33 and then Mara put the Lightning up 4-3 at 16:37.

"They made some really key plays, especially on their special teams," Graves said. "I thought that was definitely the difference."

Two-thirds of the Rangers best offensive line, the Czech line, were injured during the game. Jan Hlavac strained his left hip flexor late in the first period. Petr Nedved sustained bruised ribs midway in the second. Neither player returned to the game.

"We'll know more (Thursday)," Muckler sad of the injured forwards. "It looks like Jan will be able to play this weekend, but Petr has bruised ribs and it's not looking good. He's been our best player all year long our go-to guy."

The Rangers played well down the stretch, but only Leetch was able to beat Parent.

"We dominated the third period, but it doesn't matter when you only get one goal," Graves said.

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