The Rangers rebounded from their 3-2 loss Friday to blitz the Lightning in the second period in what became a 6-1 win. Tampa Bay might have been somewhat fatigued playing the tail end of their back-to-back but New York's speed was evident throughout the contest in the win. The Lightning's defense did Ben Bishop few favors but the Rangers grabbed a hold of this game in the second and didn't let go.

Off the loss to Carolina, coach Alain Vigneault shifted the defensive combinations. AV had Dan Girardi on the first defensive pair with McDonagh, moved Nick Holden to the right of Marc Staal and shifted Kevin Klein down to play with Brady Skjei. For one game at least, the duos worked, as the Blueshirts were better defensively. But Sunday, it was the offense and solid netminding from Antti Raanta that made the difference.

As pointed out by several columnists, the Rangers were able to do Sunday what they failed to accomplish Friday. As the Lightning tried to clog the middle of the ice, the Rangers played pucks expertly off the side walls to spring their wingers up into open ice and create numerous odd-man rushes. In addition, as Larry Brooks highlighted, "The Blueshirts exploited Tampa Bay’s aggressive pinching and attempted hard forecheck with a succession of quick and sure outlet passes that created a bevy of speed rushes through the neutral zone. If they didn’t convert off the rush, they cycled and went to the net." Then, as Ryan McDonagh noted, “as the game progressed, we found the middle a little bit more and just kind of chipped over their heads, got in foot races, and that allowed us to find some odd-man rushes.”

Speed kills and this team has a ton of it. But when bottled up, as Carolina did the other net, they have to be able to use the size they have to generate chances. The loss to the 'Canes highlighted what's missing when Chris Kreider isn't in the lineup, since he can use his size to create chances when the speed option isn't there. But last night, New York was able to adjust their attack. When the speed option was taken away, they chipped and charged. If the middle was clogged, New York went off the boards. That resourcefulness needs to be there nightly, but it's hard for me to go crazy over each loss or win, since I am more concerned with patterns that individual events.

The Rangers blew open a scoreless game with four goals in the second. After a turnover forced by Holden at the blue line, Rick Nash scooped up a loose puck, raced in alone and fired top shelf over Bishop’s glove from 15 feet for a 1-0 lead at 4:45. I know Nash, whose goal was his fourth of the year, has been the whipping boy on this team up front for years but boy has he been good. A large portion of that could be attributed to his move to a line with Derek Stepan and Jimmy Vesey against the Capitals on October 22.

Less than two minutes later at 6:42, Michael Grabner finished a gorgeous tic-tac-toe passing play from Kevin Hayes (three assists) and Brady Skjei, who made the pass from the right circle cross ice to Grabner for the tally. Just 22 seconds after that, Vesey got his fifth of the season to make it 3-0. Since the Vesey-Stepan-Nash trio was created, Nash has six points (3 goals, 3 assists), Stepan has three assists while Vesey has five points (4-1).

For good measure, J.T. Miller made it 4-0 by going hard to the net and jamming in a Hayes rebound through Bishop's legs. In the third, after McDonagh blocked a shot, Miller’s lead pass to center ice found a streaking Grabner, who fired high glove side at 6:42. He finished the hat trick, his first since 2011, at 14:47 on another pass from Hayes. The Miller-Hayes-Grabner line finished with nine points in the game. We all rip on Grabner for his lack of hands, but he sure showed some last night. His penalty killing ability and speed are more than worth the two year deal the Rangers gave him this offseason.

Raanta was solid last night, just like he was against San Jose. As I tweeted last night, to me, Raanta earned a second straight start and should be in the lineup Tuesday against St. Louis. Let Henrik Lundqvist work on the side with Benoit Allaire, as he did a few years ago when he struggled. Play Raanta on Tuesday and maybe one more beyond that if he plays well. Then with back-to-backs next weekend, give Hank one game and Raanta the other before possibly shifting back to Lundqvist.

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