Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck scored in the shootout as the host New York Rangers rallied late for a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Saturday afternoon.
Panarin also netted the tying goal to extend his points streak to 12 games when his shot from the right circle went over Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin and banked off the top of the net with 4:17 remaining in regulation. The goal gave him 118 points — five shy of Jaromir Jagr’s 2005-06 single-season team record.
Panarin scored in the first round of the shootout and Trocheck netted the clinching goal in the third round as the Rangers (54-23-4, 112 points) set a team record for regular-season wins and pulled three points ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes (51-22-7, 109 points) in the Metropolitan Division race. The Rangers host Ottawa in their final regular-season game on Monday while Carolina visits Chicago on Sunday and Columbus on Tuesday.
Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin stopped Kyle Palmieri in the first round and Brock Nelson in the second round of the shootout after making a sprawling glove save on Mathew Barzal with 10 seconds remaining in overtime.
Panarin scored his tying goal after Shesterkin denied Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech on a penalty shot with 6:56 remaining.
Shesterkin made 34 saves and Braden Schneider netted a short-handed goal for the Rangers, who won three of four meetings with the Islanders.
Nelson scored twice in the final 8:18 of the second period for the Islanders, (37-27-16, 90 points), who saw a season-high tying six-game winning streak stopped. Besides being stopped on the penalty shot, the Islanders were 0-for-5 on the power play.
After the teams combined for 24 shots on goal in a scoreless opening period, the Rangers went ahead before Nelson’s goal run.
Schneider opened the scoring at the 4:33 mark of the second period by putting his own rebound into the vacated left side of the net when Sorokin never moved to cover the second attempt.
Nelson scored from a sharp angle to the right of the net near the red line when his shot hopped into the net as Shesterkin tried to make a diving save before the puck could cross the goal line.
Nelson scored again but this time from the left side as he got a rebound in the lower edge of the left circle and lifted it into the net after getting the puck when Hudson Fasching’s wraparound try went wide.
–Field Level Media
