Panthers Outscore Rangers

     The Florida Panthers entered Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night and topped the New York Rangers 5-4. The Panthers were able to sweep a short two-game road trip and have won three of their last four games. The Rangers snapped their eight-game home winning streak.
     In the first period, Florida(10-12-2) compiled two early goals in a four-minute span. Jonathan Huberdeau centered the puck from the left wing. It went off the right skate of Brendan Smith and skimmed off the stick of Aleksander Barkov past Henrik Lundqvist for a power-play goal at 5:50.
     The Panthers made it 2-0 at the 9:35 mark. Nick Bjugstad stole the puck from Nick Holden in the high slot and angled a pass to his left. Jamie McGinn snapped a shot from the left circle for his fourth goal of the year.
     After James Riemer robbed Pavel Buchnevich on a close-range shot, the Cats broke out of their own zone. Keith Yandle sent the puck up the left-wing boards to Michael Haley in the neutral zone. He skated into the Rangers zone all the way to the left circle and scored for his first goal on his new club with 3:13 left in the first. Lundqvist was then replaced in net by Ondrej Pavelec after the goal.
     New York(13-10-2) answered back at 4:04 of the second period to make it 3-1. J.T. Miller scored his fourth goal of the season on assists from Mats Zuccarello and Brady Skjei.
     The Cats regained a three-goal margin at 8:36. Following a Mike Matheson shot from the high slot, Huberdeau eventually put it in from the right of the crease.
     It took the Rangers fifty seconds to respond and got a tally. Chris Kreider skated the puck from behind the Panthers cage and connected a cross-ice pass for Buchnevich to tap it in from the blue paint.
     The Blueshirts closed the gap to 4-3 on a three-man weave play with 8:44 remaining in the second. David Desharnais was at the top of the zone and moved the puck to Buchnevich at the top right circle. He zipped a pass to the left circle where Kreider smacked in a one-time shot.
     The Rangers thought that they tied it with 4:11 to go in the period. Kevin Hayes skated through the right circle and lifted a wrist shot from the low slot. It was disallowed because Rich Nash incidentally contacted Reimer during the shot.
     New York would finally tie the contest 4-4 with 6:32 left in the third period. Buchnevich cycled the puck to Desharnais on the end wall. He found Kreider in the crease and he tapped in a shot for his second goal of the game.
     Florida broke the tie with 1:09 remaining in the third. Mark Pysyk backhanded a pass from the top right circle to Denis Malgin in the high slot area and he blasted a one-time slap shot for his first goal of the season.