Chris Kreider scored twice on the power play to regain sole possession of the NHL goal-scoring lead and had an assist as the host New York Rangers headed into a two-week break with a 5-2 victory over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.
The Rangers have won 11 of 16 games and don’t play again until the Boston Bruins come to Madison Square Garden on Feb. 15. The victory was the 300th of Rangers coach Gerard Gallant’s NHL career.
Kreider put the Rangers ahead 3-2 at 17:25 of the second period by scoring his 32nd goal, breaking a tie with Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers for the NHL lead. He took a cross-ice feed from Ryan Strome and had an easy tap-in from the left side of the crease on an odd-man rush. Kreider’s 33rd goal came during another power play with 5:21 remaining in the third. He made it 4-2 by deflecting a cross-ice pass from the left circle by Mika Zibanejad. His feed went under Florida defenseman Radko Gudas’ stick and found Kreider, who slid the puck into the vacated right side of the net.
Zibanejad scored on the first shot of the game, 35 seconds after the opening faceoff, and Alexis Lafreniere scored the tying goal early in the second as the Rangers beat the Panthers for the second time in three games this season. Artemi Panarin had assists on Kreider’s two goals before scoring into an empty net during a last-minute power play.
New York goalie Igor Shesterkin made 34 saves for his ninth win in 10 games.
Anthony Duclair and Sam Reinhart scored for the Panthers, who saw their four-game winning streak end but still lead the NHL with 69 points, although they are third in points percentage at .734. Florida is 14-3-1 in its past 18 games. Jonathan Huberdeau had an assist on Duclair’s goal to increase his league-high points total to 64 and his NHL-leading assists total to 47.
Florida’s Spencer Knight finished with 30 saves.
Zibanejad opened the scoring when his backhand pass from the right circle for Ryan Reeves deflected off defenseman Gustav Forsling and went by Knight’s stick.
Shortly after Owen Tippett’s goal was waved off for offsides, Duclair tied it 1-1 when his wrist shot from the left circle beat Shesterkin at 10:44. Reinhart put Florida ahead 2-1 when he chipped a rebound past Shesterkin for a power-play goal 2:18 into the second.
But Florida’s only lead of the game lasted just 1:09 before Kreider forced a turnover in the right corner and Lafreniere lifted a backhander past Knight to make it 2-2.
–Field Level Media
