Panarin was playing his first game at MSG since he was traded to the Kings by the Rangers on Feb. 4 for forward prospect Liam Greentree and a conditional third-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. He spent seven seasons with New York from 2019-26.
Alex Laferriere had a goal and two assists, and Mikey Anderson had a goal and an assist for the Kings (28-24-15), who moved into a tie with the Seattle Kraken for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Darcy Kuemper made 21 saves, and Quinton Byfield had two assists.
Vincent Trocheck scored for the Rangers (28-31-8), who had their season-high four-game winning streak end. Igor Shesterkin made 22 saves.
Drew Doughty gave Los Angeles a 1-0 lead at 13:29 of the first period with a shot through traffic that beat Shesterkin. Panarin got the secondary assist on the play, passing the puck back to Anderson, who then found Doughty.
Panarin, who received a video tribute and ovation from the crowd during the first television timeout, had 607 points (205 goals, 402 assists), ninth in Rangers history, in 482 regular-season games. He led the Rangers in scoring in each of his six full seasons and led them before the trade with 57 points (19 goals, 38 assists) in 52 games.
Anderson made it 2-0 at 4:31 of the second period, scoring off a rebound at the side of the net following a Laferriere shot.
Laferriere then scored on the power play to give the Kings a 3-0 lead at 4:59 by batting the puck out of the air at the side of the net.
Trocheck’s power-play goal cut it to 3-1 at 2:29 of the third period, deflecting a shot by Adam Fox.
Trevor Moore scored an empty-net goal with 1:48 left for the 4-1 final.
