Saturday, November 4, 2017

Rangers Top Panthers In Overtime

     The Florida Panthers finished a five-game home stand with a 5-4 overtime loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday night at BB&T Center. The Panthers went 1-2-2 while in Sunrise in their last five games.
     There was no scoring and no penalties in the first period. Colton Sceviour made his return and gave Florida(4-7-2) a 1-0 lead at 3:11 of the second period. Micheal Haley whipped a backhand pass to the middle from the right circle and Sceviour tipped the puck from the low slot over the right shoulder on Henrik Lundqvist.
     New York(6-7-2) quickly responded and tied the contest 1-1 at the 7:54 mark. Ryan McDonagh had his shot from the left point blocked and the puck went across the ice. Nick Holden fired a one-time slap shot from above the right circle past Roberto Luongo.
     The Panthers moved ahead 2-1 with 5:46 left in the second. After an Aaron Ekblad slap shot from the blue line, Derek MacKenzie made a backhand shot which was saved by Lundqvist. Sceviour reached and poked the puck into the Rangers cage from the top of the crease for his second goal of the game.
     The Rangers evened up the contest 2-2 with 1:02 remaining in the period. J.T. Miller sent a backhand pass from the left circle to the top of the zone and Kevin Shattenkirk snapped in a shot for his third goal of the season.
     In the third period, the Blueshirts took their first lead of the game at 5:18 on goal by former Panther Michael Grabner. Jesper Fast stole the puck from Connor Brickley at the left point and lifted a backhand lead pass to Grabner in the low slot. He faked the backhand shot and scored on a forehand shot from the blue paint for his fifth tally of the year.
     The Cats tied it up 3-3 at the 8:45 mark when Keith Yandle placed a wrist shot from the left point into the Rangers cage. Jamie McGinn and Aleksander Barkov were credited with assists on the play.
     There was another lead change as the Rangers got ahead 4-3 on the power play with 8:35 to go. Rick Nash redirected a shot from the slot area for the goal with assists from McDonagh and Miller.
     Florida pulled their goalie for an extra skater and was able to tie it up 4-4 with 1:56 left. Vincent Trocheck did a give-and-go pass with Jonathan Huberdeau in the neutral zone. Trocheck came into the Rangers zone on the right side and ripped home a shot from the right circle for his sixth goal of the season.
     The game was decided in overtime where the Rangers prevailed at 1:08. Shatternkirk passed to Nash on the left side as they entered the Panthers zone on a 2-on-1 break. Nash returned a cross-ice pass and Shattenkirk scored on a snap shot for the game-winning goal.

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