SUNRISE, Fla. _ Kevin Shattenkirk scored his second goal 1:08 into overtime to give the New York Rangers a 5-4 win over the Florida Panthers on Saturday night. Shattenkirk converted a pass from Rick Nash on a two-on-one as the Rangers won their third straight.
The Rangers led by a goal late in the third, but with Roberto Luongo pulled for an extra attacker, Vincent Trocheck sped down the right side and whistled a shot off the crossbar and past Henrik Lundqvist with 1:56 left in regulation to tie the score at 4.
Most Rangers admitted Thursday that it was easy to get ready to face the potent and deep Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, so it might be expected that there might be a touch of a letdown against the Panthers, whose record was similar to the Blueshirts.
The Panthers were tied for fourth in scoring in the NHL with the Devils at 3.58 goals per game, and in the Rangers' second game of the two-city Florida trip, coach Alain Vigneault wanted "a strong game structure-wise without the puck, this team likes to come at you in waves, it's important to establish a solid structure defensively."
It certainly sounded like a solid strategy and worked in the scoreless first period. But the Rangers would also need to score if they wanted to raise their 1-3 record away from Madison Square Garden.
It was a back-and-forth third period. With the score 3-3, Connor Brickley was whistled for tripping Shattenkirk, and put the Rangers on a power play. Ryan McDonagh hammered a shot from the point and Nash got the blade of his stick on the puck, deflecting it past Luongo for a 4-3 lead with 8:35 left.
Earlier, with the score tied at 2 and 16:47 left, Chris Kreider was called for a faceoff violation, and the Panthers went on their second power play. But just after it expired, Michael Grabner was in alone, and went from backhand to forehand to beat Roberto Luongo for a 3-2 lead _ the Rangers' first lead _ with 14:42 left. It was Grabner's third goal in the last five games. But Keith Yandle's shot from the left point went past Lundqvist's blocker to tie it again.
The Panthers had lost three straight, but got reinforcements, including Luongo, who had missed six games with a hand injury and three forwards who had missed between three and five games with injuries returned: Colton Sceviour (who scored twice), Jared McCann and Brickley.
Vigneault thought that the reason why the Lightning were held to a single goal on Thursday was a combination of Lundqvist "being good on the first shot and our guys in front doing a better job protecting the front of the net." But Sceviour scored twice in his return on scrambles in front.
In fact, the Panthers led 2-1 until Shattenkirk's long, high wrister that flew through traffic past Luongo's stick with 1:02 left in the second tied the score at 2.
Early in the second, the Panthers came out battling. Lundqvist made a kick save on Evgeni Dadonov, and stopped a second from him in the lower right circle. The Panthers kept working away. Sceviour missed one shop, Lundqvist then stopped his slapper and when the puck bounced off J.T. Miller's stick, Sceviour got a backhander past Lundqvist at 3:11 on their fourth shot of the period.
McDonagh's cross-ice pass attempt from the left point deflected to Nick Holden at the right point, and his one-timer hit a stick and went past Luongo's right side at 7:54. At 14:14, Lundqvist stopped Derek MacKenzie's shot, but lost sight of the puck in a scramble in front. Sceviour reached behind Brady Skjei to put the loose puck through Lundqvist's five-hole.
