Rangers' Shelley knows you've got to keep it simple

TAMPA, Fla. - In early March, soon after Jody Shelley first arrived in New York from San Jose, the Rangers perhaps were trying to finesse the game too much.

"We're starting to figure out that it's got to be a simpler game," said Shelley, whose 10:34 on ice was his highest as a Ranger and whose hit on defenseman Vladimir Mihalik freed the puck that led to Brandon Prust's opening goal in the Rangers' 5-0 victory over the Lightning Friday night.

"In a few of those losses, we were making complicated plays, cross-ice passes, drop passes at the blue line," he said. "When you do that, you're feeding the transition game and you're chasing guys all night. I think we've made some technical changes and changed the mentality, and that's paid off. We chip it in, chip it out. We can still get better at it. You talk about bounces, but the bounces come when you play in the offensive zone."

Nice defense

Marc Staal and Dan Girardi limited Martin St. Louis (four) and Steven Stamkos (three) to seven shots. Stamkos is tied for second in the NHL with 46 goals. "St. Louis is such a great passer, which is why we wanted to deny him time and space," said Staal, whose goal made him 2-3-5 in four games against Tampa Bay . . . Steve Downie, the other wing on that potent line, played just 6:56 and didn't return after injuring his shoulder in a check on Dan Girardi.

Henrik comes up big

Two saves that made a difference: Henrik Lundqvist's left- pad stop on Brandon Bochenski from in front with 7:25 left in the second, and blocking St. Louis' shorthanded breakaway with 2:25 left in the second.

Blue notes

The Rangers are 19-15-4 on the road this year and 3-0-1 on this six-game trip . . . Lundqvist is 13-5-2 in his career against the Lightning . . . Anders Eriksson's assist on Brandon Dubinsky's goal was his first point as a Ranger . . . Rarity: All the Rangers were at least plus-1; Michael Del Zotto and Michal Rozsival were plus-2 . . . Marian Gaborik has eight points (4-4) in the last seven games . . . Gaborik's assist tied his career high of 41 . . . Del Zotto has seven points in the last six games.