Shattenkirk scores in OT as Rangers edge Panthers
SUNRISE, Fla. -- The New York Rangers made sure goaltender Roberto Luongo's surprise return from injury would not be successful with a 5-4 overtime victory over the Florida Panthers at the BB&T Center on Saturday night.
Kevin Shattenkirk recorded his second goal of the contest at 1:08 of overtime to give the Rangers their third straight win and fifth in their last seven games. The score came following a 2-on-1 rush with Shattenkirk taking the feed from Rick Nash for the winner.
The Panthers have dropped their last four on home ice.
Luongo, a game-time decision to start, was outdueled by Rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist, who turned aside 30 of 34 shots in the victory. Luongo made 39 saves in defeat.
Colton Sceviour, also making a return after missing five games to an upper-body injury, scored twice for the Panthers.
There were plenty of third-period dramatics.
Nash's deflection of a slap shot from the high slot by Ryan McDonagh beat Luongo at 11:25 of the third period to give the Rangers the lead at 4-3.
Vincent Trocheck answered by streaking in from the right side and tying it again with a shot that beat Lundqvist to the far side with less than two minutes remaining in regulation.
The Rangers' Michael Grabner took advantage of a Florida turnover just inside the blue line and finished a feed from Jesper Fast by tipping the puck past Luongo at 5:18 into the third period to make it 3-2.
But Florida pulled even once again at 3-3 as Keith Yandle took a pass from Jamie McGinn and fired a one-timer from the top of the left circle that sailed over Lundqvist's shoulder.
After a scoreless first period, the production in the offensive zone heated up.
The Panthers' persistence in traffic around the goal paid off when Sceviour beat Lundqvist on the stick side after taking a flip pass from Micheal Haley at 3:11 of the second period.
Less than five minutes later, Rangers' defenseman Nick Holden provided the equalizer with a blast from the top of the right-side circle for his first goal of the 2017-18 campaign. The shot followed a cross-ice pass from McDonagh, who has points in six of his last eight games.
Sceviour again benefited from a scrum in front of Lundqvist and completed a tip-in on the New York netminder's poke save on an initial shot by Derek MacKenzie to make it 2-1 at 14:14 into the second.
With just over a minute left in the period, Shattenkirk went top shelf over Luongo's shoulder from the high slot to again knot the score. Shattenkirk's third goal of the season came off a feed from in deep by J.T. Miller.
NOTES: Florida D Keith Yandle, a former New York Ranger, played in his 647th consecutive game. Yandle is 34 games shy of passing Henrik Sedin for seventh all-time ... Along with G Roberto Luongo, other key Panthers to return from injury included C Colton Sceviour and C Jared McCann (5 games) and LW Connor Brickley (three games) ... Rangers C Boo Nieves and D Brendan Smith were scratched ... Panthers D MacKenzie Weegar, RW Owen Tippett and G Antti Niemi were scratched. ... The Rangers are one of only seven NHL teams that have at least five players with 10 or more points.