NHL

Rangers fall in overtime after late rally

TAMPA, Fla. — A team that has its sights set on eighth place might be satisfied coming away with one point from a game it trailed 1-0 before sending the match into overtime with the tying goal at 19:14 of the third, only to then suffer a 2-1 loss after 19 seconds into the extra period.

A team that has higher aspirations, however, would view such a game with mixed emotions. This is the way the Rangers analyzed the match last night that they tied on Marian Gaborik’s score from the slot with 45.6 seconds to go in regulation before losing it on Nate Thompson’s goal from in front off a two-on-two rush.

“It’s a big point because we stayed with it, but I hope we’re not satisfied because this is going to get tougher and tougher,” coach John Tortorella said. “We got better as the game went on, we were right there in the third, we showed good patience to the bitter end and got the tie.

“But it was a tough way to lose on a two-on-two that was really a nothing play.”

Thompson’s score came when Dana Tyrell’s feed from the left corner slithered under a diving Matt Gilroy and found Thompson alone. Henrik Lundqvist, who had been excellent in a superb goaltending duel with Cedrick Desjardins, the 25-year-old rookie playing in his second NHL game.

The Rangers have lost all three this year to the Lightning, one in regulation, one in a shootout, and this one. There is no question that Tampa Bay can outgun the Blueshirts with their heavy artillery.

But even facing Steven Stamkos, Marty St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier and the speed that comes with and behind the Lightning’s most skilled athletes, the Rangers were able to turn the match into a battle in the trenches, the kind of game in which they thrive.

Even after a first period in which the Rangers rarely had the puck in the Lightning zone, the Blueshirts began to tilt the ice and had a substantial territorial advantage during a third period in which they never deviated from their game plan.

“Going from a high to low in a minute, that’s hockey, but we have to be happy with the point,” said Lundqvist, who faced 33 shots. “As the game went on in the third period we talked about not taking chances and staying patient because we were only behind by one goal.

“I’m happy with the way I played and with the way the team played.”

Gaborik could not have been happy with his game until he whisked the tying goal past Desjardins on a feed from Dan Girardi after Lundqvist had scooted to the bench for the extra attacker. The Gaborik-Derek Stepan-Brandon Dubinsky line struggled throughout, with Gaborik and Stepan the major culprits.

But the sniper with the singular goal-scoring talent washed out some of the bad taste with his 11th goal in 25 games-and incredibly his first outside New York, where he has seven at the Garden and three at the Coliseum.

“When I score it lifts my confidence,” Gaborik said. “Confidence is a big part of every player’s game, mine especially.”

It’s difficult to determine whether this point will boost the team’s confidence, but the Rangers did stick with it even when trailing from the 13:03 mark of the first. They turned what looked like a track meet into a battle. That’s a victory in and of itself, even, of course, if there’s no satisfaction in losing.

larry.brooks@nypost.com