Rangers Ride By Panthers

     The Florida Panthers began a short two-game road trip and lost to the New York Rangers 6-2 on Monday night at Madison Square Garden. The Panthers, who had their season-high five-game point streak stopped, will face the Pittsburgh Penguins tomorrow night. 

     New York(26-14-7) got out in front 1-0 at the 3:07 mark. Mika Zibanejad forwarded the puck out of his zone and Artemi Panarin angled a pass from the red line. Adam Fox went by Gustav Forsling at the top of the Panthers zone and placed in a backhand shot from the top of the crease by Alex Lyon for his 10th goal this season.

     Florida(23-21-5) tied it up 1-1 at 5:56. Eetu Luostarinen tapped the puck back to Anton Lundell in the inner left circle. He sent a cross-ice pass and Carter Verhaeghe lifted a forehand shot from right of the crease past Igor Shesterkin for his 23rd goal of the season. 

     The Rangers regained the lead 2-1 on the power play with 2:39 left in the second period. Fox passed from the top of the zone to Panarin above the right circle. He sent a diagonal pass to the left circle and Zibanejad got his 21st goal on a one-time slap shot. 

     It became 3-1 for the Blueshirts with 4:57 to go in the second period. Vincent Trocheck won the faceoff in the right circle and could not shoot a backhand shot from the crease area. Barclay Goodnow tried to bank a shot off the goalie from the end wall. Jimmy Vesey poked in the loose puck from the blue paint for his eighth tally of the year. 

     In the third period, New York extended their lead to 5-1 with two goals in a 14-second span. Kaapo Kakko snapped two shots from the right of the crease which were saved. Alexis Lafreniere tapped in the puck from the blue paint at the 7:56 mark. 

     The Rangers made it a four-goal lead at 8:10. Fox cleared the puck out of his defensive zone. Panarin carried it to the left circle and backhanded it across. Zibanejad released a wrist shot from the inner right circle for his second goal of the contest and 22nd goal of the campaign. 

     The Panthers decided to pull their goalie for an extra attacker around the midway point of the frame and they scored with 8:58 to go and trailed 5-2. Brandon Montour dropped a pass at the right point to Matthew Tkachuk. He sent a diagonal pass from the top right circle and Aleksander Barkov compiled his 13rd goal this season from the left of the crease. Barkov now have an eight-game point streak. 

     The Cats used an extra attacker for the next couple of minutes and eventually New York scored to make it 6-2. Lafreniere chopped the puck down the ice from his own zone. Kakko flipped a pass from the left wing and Filip Chytil pushed the puck into the empty net from the crease with 3:11 remaining in the third.