TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- The New York Rangers found a way to win on the road - turn to Jussi Markkanen.
Starting again for the injured Mike Dunham, Markkanen made 36 saves as the Rangers snapped a four-game road winless streak with a 2-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
While Tampa Bay was blanked for the second straight game, Markkanen recorded his second shutout of the season and seventh in 43 career appearances. He stopped eight shots in the first period and 14 in each of the final two.
"Jussi kept us in the game," Rangers defenseman Brian Leetch said. "We started to play lackadaisical and way too comfortable with just a 2-0 lead. Jussi was the difference tonight, no doubt about it."
Dunham missed his fourth straight game due to a groin injury and Markkanen improved to 3-2-1 this season. More importantly, he helped the Rangers to their first road win in more than three weeks.
"We needed a strong effort from everyone with the struggles we've had on the road," said Markkanen, whose wife gave birth to their first child last week. "It definitely helps anytime you get quick goals. It got us pumping."
Mark Messier opened the scoring on the power play with 3:04 left in the first period, redirecting Alexei Kovalev's point shot past Nikolai Khabibulin from the left goalpost for his team-best ninth goal.
Just 95 seconds later, rookie Jed Ortmeyer scored his first NHL goal, stuffing home a rebound of his own shot for a 2-0 lead. The University of Michigan product had gone five games without a point.
"It's always nice to get that first goal, but more importantly it happened on the road against a tough team and at a time that we needed a big victory," Ortmeyer said.
The Rangers were an Eastern Conference-worst 1-5-2 on the road, going 0-2-2 during a recent winless drought. Their only win was a 5-1 victory at Montreal on November 1.
"Anytime you go on the road, you have to figure out ways to win," Markkanen said. "Our Achilles' heel has been our play on the road. Hopefully, this will get us jump-started."
After their early jump-start, the Rangers shut things down, totaling 20 shots in the first period and only six over the final two.
"Jussi Markkanen played well, but we stopped attacking after we got ahead, 2-0, and we just can't afford to do that," coach Glen Sather said. "I wouldn't say we laid back, but I'd say that we didn't send three guys in. We were pretty darn cautious."
The Rangers also were shorthanded six times, but the Lightning failed on each power play, five of which came over the last two periods.
"In my opinion, the power play is an indication of how your team is playing," Tampa coach John Tortorella said. "I don't see a whole lot of traffic out there. We have no traffic going to the net."
While they are off to the best start in team history at 11-3-3-1, the Lightning have been shut out in consecutive games for the first time in nearly two years following Sunday's scoreless tie at Carolina.
"We aren't doing the things that got us here to this point," center Brad Richards said. "We lost that aggression and attacking mode. We've got to get back to hitting the net aggressively."
The best chance the Lightning had came midway through the second period, when Markkanen got a pad down to stop Martin St. Louis on a breakaway.
