SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Patrick Kane scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third quarter as the New York Rangers rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat the Florida Panthers 4-3 on Saturday.
Kaapo Kakko, Alexis Lafreniere and Filip Chytil each had a goal and an assist to help New York win for the eighth time in 10 games. Jaroslav Halak stopped 31 shots to snap a four-game (0-2-2) skid and earn his first win since Feb. 11 at Carolina.
The Rangers trailed 2-0 after one period and were outshot 12-3. They picked it up in the second and scored four goals in a row.
“Three shots in the first one weren’t good enough, but we were here for a day and a half with no ice, no skate in the morning,” New York coach Gerard Gallant said. “It was a tough start for us, but after that I think we played well.”
Aleksander Barkov scored twice and Ryan Lomberg also scored for Florida, which has lost three in a row and held a point behind Pittsburgh for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference with the Penguins hosting Washington on Saturday night. Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 38 saves.
Barkov got things started for the Panthers, following up on a loose puck and getting past Halak at 9:15 into the opening period.
Lomberg scored his 11th goal of the season with a shot from the left circle with 5:14 remaining in the first.
The Rangers got their game back in the second, outshooting Florida 21-8 and tying the score.
“They took over,” Barkov said. “Playing against good teams, they’re going to have their impulses and stuff. They played well in the second half and in the third they defended well. They didn’t give us that much. … Now we have to regroup and move on.”
New York scored on its 11th shot of the period at 8:50 as Kakko got behind Florida’s defense and grabbed a rebound for his 14th.
Lafreniere tied the score at 2 with 1:45 remaining in the second as he walked Bobrovsky and scored his 15th.
The Rangers had their first lead 1:22 into the third when Kane fired a long shot that caught Florida forward Carter Verhagehe’s stick and passed to Bobrovsky. It was Kane’s 20th of the season and gave him four goals and eight points in 12 games since he was acquired from Chicago before the trade deadline.
For Kane, it was the 450th goal of his career.
“I think if you play enough, sometimes you hit these milestones, so it’s obviously not the prettiest, but I’ll take it,” Kane said.
Chytil made it 4-2 almost five minutes later with his 21 as the three players in the Kid Line got on the scoreboard.
“All three of them played very well and when they play like that, it’s very exciting,” Gallant said. “They attacked and were a big part of our victory. They were excellent, they were confident and that’s great to see.”
Chytil agreed, adding: “Our line, it felt great today. I think we’ve been playing consistently well all season. Sometimes there is a game that we have so many chances and it doesn’t go in, and today we scored three important goals. I am very happy for all three of them.”
The Panthers cut their deficit to one goal after seven minutes when Barkov scored off Sam Reinhart’s pass for his second of the night and 20th of the season.
GRADES
The Panthers continue without C Sam Bennett, as he has missed the last three games. Bennett left a game in Detroit in the third period Monday night and hasn’t played since. … Barkov played in his 655th NHL game, ranking second in franchise history behind former linemate Jonathan Huberdeau (671). Barkov passed Huberdeau for the most points in his career in franchise history on Monday night in Detroit.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
Rangers: Host Columbus on Tuesday night.
Panthers: In Ottawa on Monday night.
Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.