NEW YORK – Artemi Panarin scored twice in regulation and added the decisive goal in the shootout, Igor Shesterkin made 27 saves as the New York Rangers rallied to beat the Florida Panthers 4-3.
Carter Verhaeghe put the Panthers ahead 3-2 with his 31st goal but Panarin knotted the contest with his second of the game and team-leading 43rd of the season. He has five goals in his last two games.
Matthew Tkachuk and Eetu Luostarinen also scored for the Panthers, who lost their fourth straight game. “It was a good effort by us,” said Fox according to AP.
“The crowd got into it. It was a big win. They are a good team, on top of the league for a reason.”
It was the first time in three games this season the Rangers beat the Panthers, who are battling the Bruins for the Atlantic Division lead.
“They are a good team, hard to play against,” Panarin said. “Last few games have been great for us. We’re playing consistently.”
Bobrovsky finished with 34 saves including four in overtime. “This game was good. We played hard,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.
“Sergei made a couple of big saves. We were anchored right. Our leadership was fantastic.”
Jonathan Drouin, also, scored his second goal of the game 54 seconds into overtime, and the Colorado Avalanche rallied from a four-goal deficit to stun the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 for their ninth straight win.
Nathan MacKinnon extended his point streak to 18 games with a goal and two assists. MacKinnon has at least a point in 34 straight home games, second all-time behind Wayne Gretzky´s 40-game streak in 1988-89. Sean Walker and Yakov Trenin also scored for Colorado.
It was the Avalanche´s 25th come-from-behind win this season and third time in franchise history they´ve rallied to win after trailing by four or more goals.
“We´ve been great from behind all season,” MacKinnon said. “We get aggressive, especially at home.”
Drouin, who also had an assist, won it when he beat Pittsburgh goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic for his 14th goal of the season. Nedeljkovic, who had 21 saves, was replaced by Tristan Jarry at the third after a collision with Casey Mittelstadt. Jarry had four saves and allowed the tying goal.
“He was the best player on the ice,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said of Drouin. “He was phenomenal tonight. Drouin from start to finish was the catalyst for our offense.”
Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists for his third four-point game, and Bryan Rust, Jesse Puljujarvi and Pierre-Olivier Joseph also scored for the Penguins.
Crosby assisted on Pittsburgh´s first two goals, stealing the puck from Mikko Rantanen and feeding Rust for a goal with 4:49 left of the first period to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead.
His 34th goal of the season, off a deflection at 13:47 of the second, was the first of two Pittsburgh goals in less than two minutes. Joseph made it 4-0 with his first of the season with 4:20 remaining.
“You can see in the first half of the game, we played on our toes,” Rust said. “We played in their face and if we do that we can be better than any team.”
Colorado rallied in the final four minutes of the second. Walker scored 15 seconds after Joseph and Trenin´s first goal as an Avalanche with 30 seconds left made it 4-2 going into the third period.
