EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Coach Peter Laviolette said Sunday’s Stadium Series game didn’t go according to script for the New York Rangers.
It went a lot worse for the New York Islanders.
Artemi Panarin scored off a turnover 10 seconds into overtime to cap a wild comeback by the Rangers, who trailed by three goals in the second and by two goals late in the third before beating the Islanders 6-5 in front of a crowd of 79,690 at MetLife Stadium.
“That was an outrageous hockey game,” said Rangers left winger Chris Kreider, who scored the first of the Rangers’ two power-play goals late in the third.
The Rangers’ seventh straight win began and ended in memorable fashion — and was dominated in the middle by the Islanders before the latter suffered their NHL-leading 14th overtime or shootout loss.
“This one feels like it’s going to take a little bit (to get over) right now, just given the circumstances of the day and the game and the environment,” Islanders center Brock Nelson said.
Erik Gustafsson scored on the Rangers’ first shot of the game and Matt Rempe — making his NHL debut — fought Islanders enforcer Matt Martin during the subsequent faceoff.
Nelson, Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal then scored for the Islanders in a span of just over three minutes before Laviolette called a timeout 7:34 into the first period.
“Trust me, the night wasn’t perfect for us,” Laviolette said. “It isn’t a script that we would have written and said, ‘Oh yeah, here it goes.'”
Anders Lee scored 1:03 into the second to extend the lead to 4-1 before the Rangers’ Vincent Trocheck scored twice later in the period. Alexander Romanov made it 5-3 by scoring 1:53 into the third moments after a freak collision with Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren, who didn’t return to the contest due to an upper-body injury.
Barzal was whistled for hooking with 5:44 left in regulation, after which Laviolette pulled goaltender Igor Shesterkin. Kreider redirected a Panarin shot into the net 96 seconds later.
Shesterkin skated off again for an extra attacker when Scott Mayfield was called for tripping with 2:28 remaining. The Rangers had two shots before Mika Zibanejad took a feed from Adam Fox and beat Ilya Sorokin with a shot under his stick arm, knotting things at 5-all.
“I thought our power-play guys, at the end of the game and biggest of moments and biggest of circumstances, they really delivered,” Laviolette said. “There (were) lots of keys in that game, but that had to happen at the end.”
The Islanders won the extra session’s opening faceoff, but Panarin picked off Noah Dobson in front of Sorokin. Panarin then shuffled the puck a few times before beating Sorokin a moment after Dobson knocked the net off its moorings while trying to make a sliding block.
The Rangers immediately stormed the ice and began celebrating before officials reviewed the goal, which stood after a short consultation.
“Honestly I don’t remember that goal very well at this point, just because I got flooded with a wave of emotions, excitement,” Panarin said through an interpreter. “But I’m 80 percent sure that the puck crossed the line, and it definitely was a goal.”
Shesterkin made 36 saves for the Rangers, who are 5-0-0 in outdoor games.
The Islanders fell to 0-1-1 in outdoor games after suffering their seventh loss this season in which they were ahead after two periods.
“Just got to find a way to get the job done when we have those leads,” Dobson said.
Sorokin finished with 32 saves for the Islanders, who limited the Rangers to 24 even-strength shots. Fifteen of those attempts came in the second and third, when the Rangers put 14 shots on goal with the man advantage.
“I feel good about our game,” said Islanders coach Patrick Roy, who is 3-3-3 since taking over for Lane Lambert. “Yes, those penalties at the end hurt us. But we did a lot of good things. And when I look at the five-on-five, that’s the hockey we want to play.”
–Jerry Beach, Field Level Media
