NEW YORK _ Ryan McDonagh, J.T. Miller and Dan Girardi returned Friday night to Madison Square Garden for the first time as members of the visiting team.
They received a pregame video tribute and the postgame satisfaction of being on the winning side. Miller had a goal and an assist and Girardi scored a goal to help the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Rangers, 7-3, in their home finale and retake the lead in the Eastern Conference.
After Brady Skjei gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead in the first, Cedric Paquette tied it at 3:15 of the second on an assist from Miller. Alex Killorn scored on a rebound 1:18 later to give the Lightning a 2-1 lead.
Tampa Bay opened up a four-goal lead early in the third with goals by Miller, Paquette and Brayden Point in a span of 2:03.
The Rangers' Filip Chytil scored his first NHL goal at 8:14, and Chris Kreider scored with 3:29 left to cut it to 5-3. But Point scored his 30th into an empty net with 1:44 remaining and Girardi scored on a power play with 34 seconds left to set the final margin.
