Panarin has all the right moves in Blueshirts’ defeat

SUNRISE, Fla. — Artemi Panarin had been watching kids at the World Junior Championships, before it was canceled on Wednesday, and other young players attempt this move.

So over the last three practices, the Rangers star winger began to work at it.

“I just [asked] why am I not doing that?” he quipped.

And in the first period of the Rangers’ eventual 4-3 loss to the Panthers at FLA Live Arena on Wednesday night, Panarin saw his opportunity.

After receiving the puck at center ice, Panarin skated into the offensive zone with Panthers top-pair defenseman Aaron Ekblad in good position. The Russian Rocket then pulled a backhanded tuck through his legs to dance around Ekblad and slid the puck right under his former Blue Jackets teammate Sergei Bobrovsky’s pad to put the Rangers on the board at 11:08.

“Good move,” head coach Gerard Gallant said after the loss. “Talented move against a real good player. Sometimes they go in when you put the puck to the net. He played really well today, made some good plays.”

Panarin registered his fifth multipoint game in his last 11 contests, leading the Rangers with a goal, an assist and three shots in 18:38. He was brilliant through 60 minutes and finessed some timely plays that kept the Rangers competitive.

Over halfway through the second period, Panarin pickpocketed Panthers defenseman Radko Gudas as he tried to make it way up the ice and immediately turned the play the other way. Closing in on Bobrovsky, Panarin hit a streaking Mika Zibanejad, who buried the puck for the 2-1 score at 12:43 of the second.

Panarin leads the Rangers with 34 points so far this season, and has now recorded 11 points in his last eight games with four goals and seven assists. He also has a point in eight of his last 11 contests.

➤ Libor Hajek’s secondary assist on the Zibanejad goal counted as his first point of the season.

Having competed in each of the Rangers’ past five games, Hajek put forth one of his more up-and-down efforts in Wednesday’s loss. To go along with the assist, Hajek put two shots on goal. However, he also finished minus-two on the night and took two penalties — one of which somewhat led to Panthers forward MacKenzie Weegar’s game-tying tally in the third.

➤ The Panthers, one of the teams shut down prior to the holiday recess, had a relatively full lineup Wednesday. Among the players who returned from COVID-19 protocol were Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Maxim Mamin, and Mason Marchment.

➤ The Rangers’ matchup with the Panthers counted as their 18th road game. No other NHL team has played more away games than the Rangers, while the Hurricanes are the only club that has won more on the road. With an 11-5-2 road record, which includes wins in five of their last seven, the Rangers have the most road points (24) through 30 games in franchise history.