Multi-goal comeback a first for Rangers in 5-3 win over Panthers
Talk about too little, too late. The New York Rangers did something Monday they hadn’t been able to accomplish all season in a 5-3 victory over the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena.
The Rangers (38-36-7) rallied from a multiple-goal deficit to win for the first time this season. They were the only team in the NHL not to have done so before Monday, their 81st game of the season, and first since being eliminated from playoff contention Saturday.
Though it was a meaningless game, it was still a feel-good victory. The Rangers wiped out a 3-1 deficit in the second period and scored the final four goals to defeat the team that kncoked them out of the playoffs last spring in the Eastern Conference Final en-route to winning the Stanley Cup.
Playing in his 800th NHL game, Vincent Trocheck scored the game-winning goal, short-handed, against his former team early in the third period. Matt Rempe had a goal and an assist in the win for his first career multiple-point game.
Speaking of firsts, Matthew Robertson made his NHL debut, six years after the Rangers selected him in the second round of the 2019 draft. The 24-year-old defenseman was paired with Adam Fox and nearly scored on the first shift of the game, but was denied when Sergei Bobrovsky made a sharp save just 15 seconds into play.
J.T. Miller and Juuso Parssinen each had a goal and assist, and Jonny Brodzinski scored the other goal for the Rangers, who had lost four of five games coming in.
Jonathan Quick made 27 saves and moved past Grant Fuhr for sole possession of 13th place on the all-time NHL wins list with No. 404 in his stellar career.
Bobrovsky finished with 20 saves for the Panthers. The loss locked them into third place in the Atlantic Division and a likely first-round matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning when the playoffs begin this weekend.
Sam Reinhart scored two goals for Florida and Carter Verhaeghe had the other.
Related: Mika Zibanejad’s late-season surge could impact his Rangers future one way or the other
New York Rangers 5 – Florida Panthers 3
The Rangers and Panthers exchanged one goal apiece in the first period and a pair each in the second period to skate to a 3-3 tie after 40 minutes of play.
Reinhart opened the scoring with his first of the game just 2:22 into play. He hammered a slap shot past Quick on the power play, off a touch pass from Sam Bennett.
Zac Jones did his best to try and even the score for the Rangers, but was stoned twice by Bobrovsky, who made a pair of quick glove saves on the defenseman 30 seconds apart, at 5:44 and 6:15.
A couple minutes later, Rempe gained position on Seth Jones in front of the Panthers net and banged home a rebound for his third goal of the season at 8:43. It all started with Parssinen winning an offensive zone face-off. Rempe then dished the puck back to K’Andre Miller at the left point and dashed for the net, where he ended up to be in perfect position to tap home a loose puck when Bobrovsky failed to handle Miller’s shot cleanly.
Each team hit a post before the first period ended. First, it was Alexis Lafreniere for the Rangers, after a pretty set up by Jones at 11:14. Then at 14:45, Reinhart blew past Carson Soucy on the rush and fired a shot that caught iron.
Tied 1-1 entering the second period, the Panthers again grabbed the lead. Verhaeghe chipped a short rebound past Quick when Fox was unable to tie him up at 4:32.
The Rangers fourth line came close to tying the game twice after Verhaeghe’s 20th goal. Rempe sprinted into the offensive zone on right wing and made a power move to the net, but Bobrovsky made an outstanding poke check to deny him at 6:53. Then at 10:10, Bobrovsky made consecutive big-time stops against Chris Kreider and Brodzinski.
Florida rewarded its goalie when Reinhart potted his second goal of the game and 39th of the season at 13:54, tapping in a pretty feed from Aleksander Barkov.
After a largely quiet period, the Rangers broke out to tie the game with a pair of goals 1:38 apart. Parssinen cut to the net and perfectly deflected a K’Andre Miller pass/shot past Bobrovsky at 15:55. Mika Zibanejad then set up J.T. Miller with a gorgeous pass off the rush, and Miller wired home his 22nd goal at 17:33 to tie the score 3-3.
Rempe took a tripping penalty 2:44 into the third period and it was a major turning point. Just not how you might think.
The Panthers didn’t capitalize, but the Rangers did. They scored their League-leading 17th short-handed goal — second most in franchise history — and grabbed their first lead of the night at 3:40. This time J.T. Miller was the one making a sweet pass; and Trocheck buried it with a left-wing snipe for his team-high fifth shorty to make it 4-3.
Gabe Perreault came very close to extending the Rangers lead and scoring his first NHL goal, but was denied by a sharp Bobrovsky with under five minutes to play. But Brodzinski’s 12th of the season capped the big Rangers comeback at 16:31 to make it 5-3.
Rempe started the charge to the net, Kreider swept a pass in front from the goal line and Brodzinski was able to chip it into the net, as the fourth line struck again.
Though irrelevant in the standings, it was a good win for the Rangers, especially considering the opponent and how the victory was fueled by so many unheralded players.
So, that leaves one more game this season for the Rangers. They will host the Lightning at Madison Square Garden on Thursday before hey head off to a much-too-early summer vacation.
More About:New York Rangers News