Panthers rally to defeat Rangers in shootout

NEW YORK -- Evgenii Dadonov had a goal and two assists for the Florida Panthers in a come-from-behind 6-5 shootout win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

Aleksander Barkov scored for the fifth straight game, and rookie Sam Montembeault made 29 saves for the Panthers (8-4-5), who trailed by a goal three times.
"I thought it was an entertaining game," Florida coach Joel Quenneville said. "I thought we got a lot of pucks to the net, that we had good presence at the net as well and got rewarded for a couple of goals. ... We did some good things."
WATCH: [All Panthers vs. Rangers highlights]
Ryan Lindgren scored his first NHL goal, and Artemi Panarin extended his point streak to eight games for the Rangers (7-6-2). Henrik Lundqvist made 30 saves.
"When you're that close, I feel like you lost [a point]," Lundqvist said. "It comes down to [the] shootout, it comes down to one save, and I wasn't able to make two saves. That's disappointing."

The Rangers took a 5-4 lead when Chris Kreider tipped a power-play shot by Adam Fox at 18:35 of the second period. But Brian Boyle deflected a shot by Keith Yandle past Lundqvist at 7:01 of the third to tie the game 5-5.
Vincent Trocheck scored the deciding goal of the shootout in the bottom of the third round after New York rookie Kaapo Kakko scored to start the round.
"I think we just have confidence in ourselves that even when we're down, we still have the confidence that we are going to come back and win the game ... we showed it again tonight," Trocheck said.
Vatrano, who scored Florida's other shootout goal, in the first round, tied it 4-4 at 8:30 of the second on a breakaway off a pass from Dadonov. That came after Kakko scored a power-play goal at 7:31 to give New York a 4-3 lead.
"We're showing glimpses and then we have a game like that where it was on a plate for us, it really was," Kreider said. "We were up several times. ... It needs to be more consistent."

Brady Skjei tied it 3-3 for the Rangers at 5:31 of the second when his shot pinballed off defenseman Mike Matheson in front of the net and got past Montembeault.
Dadonov scored a power-play goal at 4:42 of the second to give the Panthers a 3-2 lead.
"As has happened throughout the course of this short season, when we get some goals, all of a sudden our mindset continues to change," Rangers coach David Quinn said. "We get very sloppy, we get very pond hockey-ish at times and if we trade chances with a team like that, rarely are we ever going to get a point."
Filip Chytil tied the game 2-2 for New York at 1:28 of the second when he skated around defenseman Anton Stralman and beat Montembeault.
Barkov tied the game 1-1 with 1:47 remaining in the first period when he took a pass from Dadonov in the right face-off circle, stopped, and beat Lundqvist with a wrist shot high to the far corner. Florida went ahead 30 seconds later when Dominic Toninato put a rebound past Lundqvist to make it 2-1 at 18:43. It was his first goal of the season.
"I thought we weathered the storm and played well in overtime and then got the win in the shootout," Vatrano said. "So it's obviously a good all-around effort for all of us."
Lindgren scored to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 5:06 of the first period, converting a cross-crease pass from Ryan Strome.

They said it

"In a game like that, you have to keep moving forward and looking at the next shot and find your focus, and I thought he did that and had real good composure as well." -- Panthers coach Joel Quenneville on rookie goalie Sam Montembeault
"We have to believe we're moving in the right direction for sure. The toughest part in this league is consistency. ... That's something we just have to work on and get better. But I think that's the key if you want to get into the playoffs is to become a consistent team." -- Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist

Need to know

Barkov's five-game goal streak is tied for the second-longest in Panthers history. The only one longer is a seven-game streak by Pavel Bure during the 2000-01 season. ... Panarin had the secondary assist on Lindgren's goal and has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) during his point streak. ... The Rangers have earned at least one point in 17 of 19 games against the Panthers since the 2013-14 season (13-2-4) and have a point in 10 of their past 11 against them (6-1-4). ... Panthers defenseman MacKenzie Weegar sustained an undisclosed injury in the second period. Quenneville said he did not expect him to play against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday. ... Rangers defenseman Marc Staal didn't play after having surgery for an ankle infection this weekend. He will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

What's next

Panthers: At the Boston Bruins on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; SN, NESN, FS-F, NHL.TV)
Rangers: Host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TVAS, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV)