SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) Vincent Trocheck scored the deciding goal in the shootout to lift the Florida Panthers to a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday night for their franchise-record eighth straight home win.
Aleksander Barkov also scored in the tiebreaker for the Panthers, who have points in nine straight games. The Panthers pulled one point behind New Jersey for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, with three games in hand.
Frank Vatrano scored a goal in his Panthers debut, Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and an assist, and Jamie McGinn also scored. Trocheck had two assists. Roberto Luongo made 34 saves.
Kevin Hayes, Mika Zibanejad and Mats Zuccarello scored in regulation for the Rangers, who lost their third straight. Ryan Spooner had a pair of assists. Zuccarello also scored to open the shootout. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 32 shots in his 800th career game, becoming the 15th goalie in NHL history to reach the milestone.
Trailing 3-2, the Rangers tied the score 3-3 as Hayes took a wrist shot from above the right circle that went over Luongo and into the net at 7:25 of the third.
Zibanejad tied the score 2-all when he took a drop pass from Jesper Fast and put the puck into the upper corner of the net 17 seconds into the third.
The Panthers answered less than a minute later when McGinn slid a rebound between Lundqvist’s pads at 1:02 to reclaim the lead at 3-2.
The Panthers took a 1-0 lead on Huberdeau’s power-play goal. Huberdeau found a loose puck in the front of the crease and poked it behind Lundqvist with 14.8 seconds left in the first.
Vatrano, traded to Florida from Boston on Feb. 22 for a third-round pick, redirected a pass from Vincent Trocheck into the net from in front at 8:13 of the second to make it 2-0. Vatrano had been sidelined with a high-ankle sprain since the trade,
The Rangers closed to 2-1 on the goal by Zuccarello. Neal Pionk shot from the point and Zuccarello deflected it into the net with 6:49 left in the second.
NOTES: Gold Medalist Emily Pfalzer of Team USA hockey participated in the ceremonial puck drop. Panthers D Mike Matheson, her boyfriend, greeted her at center-ice. … Panthers D Keith Yandle has 20 points in 18 games. … Spooner has two goals and 10 assists in seven games for the Rangers since he was acquired in a trade with Boston on Feb. 25. … Rangers F Chris Kreider returned after missing the final two periods of Thursday night’s 5-3 loss at Tampa Bay after taking a hit to the head near the end of the first period. … Lundqvist is the first goalie born outside North America to reach the 800-game mark.
UP NEXT
Rangers: Host Carolina on Monday night.
Panthers: Host Ottawa on Tuesday night.
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