Panarin scores in 3rd, shootout, Rangers rally past Islanders

NEW YORK -- Artemi Panarin scored a game-tying goal at 15:43 of the third period and again in the shootout, helping the New York Rangers rally for a 3-2 win against the New York Islanders at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

Igor Shesterkin made 34 saves, including a highlight-reel windmill glove save on Mathew Barzal with eight seconds left in overtime. He also stopped Brock Nelson in the shootout.

Panarin scored off a face-off win by Vincent Trocheck to tie it 2-2, ripping a shot from the left circle past Ilya Sorokin's glove.

"I tried to find a lane between the legs, the player's legs," Panarin said. "I did not really see the goalie, just trying to shoot the puck between the legs and I think it touched someone, the defenseman. It worked."

Braden Schneider had a short-handed goal, and Trocheck also scored in the shootout for the Rangers (54-23-4), who set a franchise record for wins in a season.

They lead the Carolina Hurricanes by three points for first place in the Metropolitan Division. The Hurricanes have two games remaining; the Rangers have one.

New York will clinch first in the division if Carolina loses in any fashion to the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.

"I think it says a lot," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said of setting the franchise record for wins. "There's still one more regular-season game left and you want to make sure you're doing your best to make sure you're getting the two points, getting the wins, and if you do that well enough, then you get a chance to play for the Stanley Cup.

“The regular season has to happen for everybody, 82 games, and the fact that this group was able to battle hard the way they did and collect 54 [wins], I think that's something they should be proud of from a regular-season standpoint."

Nelson scored twice, Kyle Palmieri and Hudson Fasching each had two assists, and Sorokin made 41 saves for the Islanders (37-27-16), who had a six-game winning streak end.

"It's a big point for us," Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. "In the same way we'd love to have those two points, don't get me wrong. It was a hard-fought game, both teams had their chances, but we felt like we could have ended up with that game on our side."

The Islanders are third in the Metropolitan Division, three points ahead of the Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers. New York and Washington each has two games remaining, Philadelphia has one.

"When you're up late and you lose it, it hurts," Nelson said. "And then you take a step back and think about how tight the race is, so many different outcomes and scenarios that could happen. So, to get one [point], that's good."

Schneider gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 4:33 of the second period with a short-handed goal off a 3-on-1 rush with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider.

The Rangers were 5-for-5 on the penalty kill and allowed the Islanders' two shots on goal on their five power-play opportunities.

"Everything was working," Trocheck said of the penalty kill. "It was just really good pressure, really good support for each other. I thought we did a really good job of dragging pucks back whenever we had possession on their power play, which kills a lot of time. That was big."

Pierre Engvall had a would-be goal taken away at 5:14 because the Rangers successfully challenged for offside. Video replay showed Palmieri preceded the puck into the zone.

Nelson tied it 1-1 at 11:42, scoring on his second shot from below the right face-off circle.

He scored again at 19:32 to make it 2-1.

Palmieri and Fasching won a puck battle below the goal line. Fasching wrapped a backhand pass around the right post through the crease and under Shesterkin's blocker to Nelson for a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle.

"Just trying to support those guys, get open, nothing flashy but be hard on it," Nelson said. "I thought we were able to get a couple off that."

Shesterkin stopped Adam Pelech on a penalty shot at 13:04 of the third after Panarin hooked him from behind when he was going in for a breakaway.

"We had chances in that third to make it a 3-1 game," Roy said. "Penalty shot, [Jean-Gabriel] Pageau had an open net, [Casey] Cizikas hits the crossbar. I was pretty proud of the way our guys responded to the push they made at the start of that third period."

But Shesterkin’s save on Pelech's penalty shot, along with several others in the third, kept the Rangers in the game and allowed Panarin to tie it off the face-off win by Trocheck.

"After it was 2-1, 'Shesty' had to come in with some really big saves," Laviolette said. "Sometimes we were pressing and sometimes we turned the puck over at the wrong time, the penalty shot. There's probably a half a dozen key saves that he made at 2-1 that kept it that way. Guys kept pushing and eventually got to tie it up, take it to overtime."

NOTES: The Rangers also set a team record for comeback wins in a season (28). … Panarin extended his point streak to 12 games (24 points; 10 goals, 14 assists). … Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson missed his first game of the season. Dobson, who has 70 points (10 goals, 60 assists), is day to day with an upper-body injury. … Islanders defenseman Robert Bortuzzo blocked seven shots in 15:05 of ice time.