J.T. scores OT winner as Rangers pull out big win vs. T.B.

TAMPA — Finally, the Rangers have something to hang their hats on. After weeks of falling behind early and shoddy defensive play begetting pressure and even some self-doubt, they pulled out their most impressive performance and victory. It started with perhaps their best period of the season, ended w it h a sterling J.T. Miller overtime goal, and with their 2-1 win Thursday night over a Lightning team that had been the best in the NHL, the Rangers (5-7-2) won consecutive games for the first time this season.

“It’s definitely something that we can look to now,” Marc Staal said. “I think it was probably one of our most full games we played from the start of the game until the end. It’s definitely something we can fall back on when things aren’t going our way.”

Miller took a Kevin Shattenkirk pass from his own blue line, raced up the right side, cut across the slot and finished, ensuring the Rangers had the end result to match their best effort.

All that got through Henrik Lundqvist (27 saves) was a shorthanded goal in the middle of the second that tied the game. He stopped all of Tampa Bay’s other 15 shots in the second and only faced four in the third while Andrei Vasilevskiy (33 saves) kept the Lightning (10-3-1) in the game.

The Rangers — against whom longtime Blueshirt Dan Girardi played for the first time after being bought out in June — didn’t give up much in the first, especially against Tampa’s top guns, Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov, and they took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission after Chris Kreider’s fourth goal in six games. It was in stark contrast to many of the Rangers’ first periods this season.

“I did not give up a goal in the first two minutes, which was nice,” Lundqvist said with a chuckle. “When that doesn’t happen obviously it’s a lot easier to stay confident and believe in yourself and do the right thing. I also felt like the guys were very structured in front of me.”

A call went the Rangers’ way when the officials waved off Alex Killorn’s goal 3:01 into the third because of goalie interference on Gabriel Dumont. The Lightning’s challenge was unsuccessful. Predictably, the Rangers felt it was the right call while Tampa disagreed. “I think the only person in the building who didn’t think that was a goal was the ref,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.

After that, the Rangers hunkered down and were able to generate looks off of strong defensive play.

“We showed to ourselves — stick to the game plan, be smart and go for it when there’s an opportunity,” Lundqvist said. “Don’t force it, don’t take chances, we have to take care of our own end. We’re skilled enough. We’re going to create chances. We saw how many good chances we had tonight.”

If not an exact blueprint, this win provides an example of how the Rangers can improve. “We deserved to win,” Alain Vigneault said.