Maybe all the Rangers needed was a punch in the mouth. Not a punch per se, but a high stick that knocked some teeth out of Jaromir Jagr’s mouth. Jagr shook off the hit and the Rangers shook off the malaise that has plagues their power play all season with two goals in the third to win 3-1 over Tampa Bay.

New York took an early lead in the first period on Nigel Dawes’ third goal of the season. Tampa tied things up in the second when Vincent Lecavalier was awarded a penalty shot after he was pulled down on a breakaway. Lecavalier hit a beautiful backhand shot past Henrik Lundqvist to tie things at 1.

And that’s where things stood when Chris Gratton got called for a vicious cross check, putting the Rangers on the power play. Jagr got open in the slot, and deposited a feed from Michael Rozsival into the net for a 2-1 lead. Tampa took another penalty a minute later and the Rangers scored again when Brendan Shanahan slammed home a goal off a feed from Chris Drury. New York had to kill a penalty late in the third period, but they did so and cruised to the win.