When the high powered offensive attack possessed by the Tampa Bay Lightning faced off against the stingy defense of the New York Rangers on Wednesday night at the St. Pete Times Forum, something had to give. Another stellar goaltending duel took place, and in the end, the battle of the Swedish netminders was won by Henrik Lundqvist as the Rangers defeated the Lightning 2-1, for their fifth straight road win.

With 32 saves, Lundqvist’s miniscule goals-against average is 1.79 and he is clearly the primary reason the offensively inept Blueshirts are in first place in the Atlantic Division. His shutout bid was lost with just 16.9 seconds remaining in regulation.

Fedor Tyutin got the lone goal in the opening period when he blasted a shot from just inside the blue line at 8:51. Blair Betts got the primary assist; it was his first point in 28 games (Petr Prucha had the other assist). It was the sixth straight goal over a three-game period scored by the defense. That’s quite an accomplishment for the defensive corpse and not a very impressive statistic for the offense units.

After a scoreless second in which Lundqvist and Johan Holmqvist (27 saves in a superb effort) repelled several quality scoring opportunities, Colton Orr, of all people doubled the visitors lead at 2:05 of the final frame. The unlikeliest of goals was assisted by Ivan Baranka (playing in his first NHL game) and Jason Strudwick. It ended up being the game-winning goal.

With three and one-half minutes left in regulation, it looked as if the Lightning had scored to halve the deficit. After a scramble in front, Vaclav Prospal’s shot appeared to just squeak over the goal line, but Brendan Shanahan was right there in the middle of the action and dove behind Lundqvist to swipe it back under his goaltender. A video review gave no definitive indication whether the puck completely crossed the line so it was ruled no goal. It couldn’t have been any closer without going in; the Rangers were very fortunate and it was a great save by Shanahan.

With Holmqvist off for an extra skater, Tampa Bay finally beat Lundqvist with less than 17 seconds remaining. Michel Ouellet ruined the shutout bid to the dismay of the great Henrik.

Michal Rozsival joined Martin Straka, Ryan Callahan and Marek Malik on the sidelines for the game. All are on the mend and could return quickly; it goes without saying the Rangers need all the help they can get on the offense. While Callahan and Malik certainly don’t figure to boost their sagging production, Straka and Rozsival (especially of late) will definitely aid the cause.

The two-game swing in Florida concludes tonight when the Rangers meet the Panthers at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise.