Rangers fall to Panthers, 4-2, in battle of two of NHL's best
NEW YORK (AP) — Ryan Lomberg scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, Sam Reinhart scored twice and the Florida Panthers beat the New York Rangers 4-2 on Monday night in a matchup of first-place teams.
Anton Lundell also scored, Aleksander Barkov and Gustav Forsling each had two assists as the Panthers won their fifth straight and 11th in the last 12 games. Florida leads the NHL with 42 wins and 88 points.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves to improve to 31-11-2 this season, including 15-6-1 on the road. The 35-year-old has 391 career wins.
Since Dec. 23, Florida is 24-4-2. The Panthers also have a league-leading 21 road wins and 44 road points.
Will Cuylle and Chris Kreider scored for Metropolitan Division-leading New York, which lost for the third time in four games after a 10-game winning streak. The Rangers also had their six-game home winning streak snapped. Igor Shesterkin finished with 25 saves.
After a turnover in the neutral zone, Lomberg skated down the left wing and took a wrist shot that fooled Shesterkin at 6:11 of the third to snap a 2-2 tie with his fifth goal of the season.
Lundell added an empty-netter in the final minute to seal the win.
Cuylle put the Rangers ahead 1-0 with his 11th goal with 3:20 left in the first period, knocking home a loose puck. Bobrovsky had stopped Jacob Trouba’s initial shot from the right point but couldn’t corral the rebound.
Florida tied it on the power-play at 10:11 of the second as Reinhart tapped home a pass from Barkov after Barkov creatively passed the puck to himself in the offensive zone. Reinhart leads the NHL with 15 power-play goals on the road.
Reinhart rifled home his team-leading 44th goal and second of the game less than three minutes later to put Florida ahead 2-1. He has totaled 14 goals and 26 points in 29 career games against the Rangers.
Kreider tied it with his 31st goal — 12th on the power play — with 4:34 left in the second. Artemi Panarin got his 50th assist .and 85th point of the season — both team-highs — on the play.
UP NEXT
Panthers: At New Jersey on Tuesday night
Rangers: Host St. Louis Blues on Saturday night
