Panarin scores tying goal, shootout winner as Rangers edge Islanders 3-2
Artemi Panarin scored late in the third period to tie game and tallied the shootout winner as the New York Rangers rallied to defeat the New York Islanders 3-2 for a franchise-record 54th win on Saturday.
Igor Shesterkin made 33 saves, Braden Schneider scored a short-handed goal and Vincent Trocheck ended the shootout with another goal as the Rangers inched closer to winning the Presidents’ Trophy for the NHL’s best regular-season record.
Panarin scored to the open the shootout against Ilya Sorokin. After Kyle Palmieri hit the post and Brock Nelson was stopped by Shesterkin, Trocheck ended the exciting game between the long-time rivals with a shot into the lower corner of the net that ended the Islanders’ six game winning streak.
Brock Nelson had scored twice in second period to put the Islanders ahead 2-1 but Panarin scored his 48th goal with 4:17 remaining to tie the game and help the Rangers end a two-game slide.
The Islanders are 8-2-1 in their last 11 games and moved closer to clinching a playoff spot, thanks to their late-season surge under Patrick Roy who replaced Lane Lambert as head coach on Jan. 20. The Islanders are third in the Metropolitan Division with 90 points and two games remaining.
Sorokin finished with 40 saves. Schneider put the Rangers ahead with a short-handed goal early in the middle period, Nelson scored in close at 11:42 and then put the Islanders ahead with 28 seconds remaining on a rebound. Palmieri and Hudson Fasching assisted on both goals.
Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech had a chance to add an insurance goal on a penalty shot with 6:56 left in the third but was denied by Shesterkin, who also stopped Mat Barzal with a windmill save late in overtime.
Panarin leads the Rangers with 118 points and has points in a franchise-record 66 of the Rangers’ 81 games this season.
The Rangers lead the Carolina Hurricanes by three points in the Metropolitan Division. The Rangers play their home finale on Monday against Ottawa while the Hurricanes have two games left.
The Rangers were coming off a 4-1 home loss to Philadelphia on Thursday after falling 4-2 to the Islanders at UBS Arena last Tuesday.
Palmieri has points in seven of his last eight games, including scoring the overtime winner against Montreal on Tuesday.