Panarin rallies Rangers to 6-5 win over Islanders in outdoor game at MetLife Stadium
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Artemi Panarin scored 10 seconds into overtime and the New York Rangers rallied from three goals down to beat the rival New York Islanders 6-5 in a Stadium Series game at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
Panarin knocked in the puck off Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson and goalie Ilya Sorokin and the puck trickled across the goal line after Dobson knocked the right side of the goal loose. The goal was confirmed after a review.
Vincent Trocheck had two goals and an assist, and Erik Gustafsson and Chris Kreider also scored for the Rangers, who won their seventh straight and remained perfect in five outdoor games. Panarin, Alexis Lafreniere and Adam Fox each had two assists, and Igor Shesterkin finished with 36 saves after allowing at least four goals for the 13th time this season.
Rangers coach Peter Laviolette was behind the bench for his fifth outdoor game, tying Joel Quenneville for the most in NHL history, and got his first win in the open air.
Brock Nelson had a goal and an assist, and Bo Horvat, Mathew Barzal, Anders Lee and Alexander Romanov also scored for the Islanders, who fell to 0-1-1 in outdoor games — with both losses coming against the Rangers. Dobson had three assists to top 50 for the season and Sorokin had 32 saves.
The Islanders, who lost to the Rangers at Yankee Stadium 10 years earlier, pulled four points behind Detroit for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
The second game in two days at the home of the NFL’s Jets and Giants drew 79,690 — the third biggest crowd for an NHL outdoor game and a little more than 9,000 higher than the attendance of the Devils’ 6-3 win over the Flyers here the previous night.
Islanders coach Patrick Roy fell to 3-3-3 since replacing the fired Lane Lambert on Jan. 20, and dropped his outdoor record to 0-1-1.
Rangers players arrived at the stadium wearing NYPD and FDNY hockey jerseys, while the Islanders were in suits and ties. The start of the game was then delayed about 45 minutes to allow for the shining sun to move off the ice, and the temperature at puck drop at 3:48 p.m. was a windy 39 degrees.
After the Rangers pulled within one in the second period, Romanov pushed the Islanders’ lead back up to 5-3 as he fired in the deflection of a point shot by Dobson at 1:53 of the third. It was his sixth of the season.
Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren was down on the ice and slow to get up after he was hit in the face by Romanov’s stick after he passed the puck out of the corner shortly before the goal. Lindgren headed to the Rangers’ dressing room due to a cut on his face.
The Rangers had five shots on goal during a power play midway through the third, but Sorokin stopped them all. The Rangers then had a 4-on-3 power play with just under six minutes to go, and Laviolette pulled Shesterkin for a two-man advantage.
With the Rangers on a 6-on-4 advantage, Kreider deflected Panarin’s shot past Sorokin with 4:08 left to pull the Rangers within one with his 28th.
The Rangers were on another power play and pulled Shesterkin for the two-man advantage again and Zibanejad tied it 5-5 with a sharp-angle goal from the left circle off a pass from Lafreniere with 1:29 remaining. It was Zibanejad’s 18th and the Rangers’ third power-play goal of the day.
Lee extended the Islanders’ lead to 4-1 with a power-play goal at 1:03 of the second as he deflected Pierre Engvall’s shot from the right point through his legs and past Shesterkin. It was his 14th.
After Lee was sent off for slashing, Trocheck deflected Panarin’s shot from the slot for his 17th at 5:36 to pull the Rangers back within two.
Trocheck then pulled the Rangers to 4-3 as chipped in a loose puck from the left side with 1:36 remaining in the middle period.
Gustafsson got the Rangers on the scoreboard 1:28 into the game as he fired a shot from the left point over the right shoulder of a screened Sorokin on the team’s first shot on goal. It was his fifth.
Rangers 21-year-old rookie forward Matt Rempe, the first player to make his NHL debut in an outdoor game, then dropped his gloves and exchanged punches with the Islanders’ Matt Martin before the ensuing faceoff.
The Islanders then scored three times in 3:14 span to take the lead.
UP NEXT
Rangers: Host Dallas on Tuesday night before returning to New Jersey to face the Devils on Thursday night.
Islanders: At Pittsburgh on Tuesday night to open a two-game road trip.
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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
