The return of leading scorer Artemi Panarin was just what the New York Rangers needed to end their 2025 home schedule with a win.
Panarin scored twice in regulation after missing one game with illness, then got the winning goal in the shootout to give the Rangers a 5-4 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers at Madison Square Garden on Saturday afternoon.
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The Blueshirts survived Philadelphia’s four-goal second period by scoring twice to overcome a 4-2 deficit in the third, with Mika Zibanejad’s power-play goal tying the game with 2:34 remaining. They survived two Flyers power plays in overtime to get to the tiebreaker.
Panarin started the shootout by snapping a shot past Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson, who got a late call to start after Dan Vladar couldn’t go because of an upper-body injury. Igor Shesterkin then stopped Trevor Zegras, one of the NHL’s best in the shootout, before Vincent Trocheck beat Ersson. The game ended when Travis Konecny hit the crossbar.
It was the Rangers’ second straight Saturday comeback win at home; they overcame a three-goal deficit to beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 a week ago.
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The Rangers (18-15-4) improved to 4-10-3 at home as they prepare to play their final five games of this year on the road, beginning with a visit to the Nashville Predators on Sunday night. They’ve won their past two games after losing 4-1 to the Anaheim Ducks on Monday and 3-0 to the Vancouver Canucks 3-0 on Tuesday.
“This is the kind of confidence we need,” Trocheck said.
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Philadelphia trailed 1-0 after the first period but scored three times in a 3:36 span of the second. Three of the four goals came on special teams; the Flyers ended an 0-for-16 power-play drought with two man-advantage goals and added their first shorthanded goal of the season.
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But the Rangers showed the kind of urgency that’s been lacking on numerous nights at MSG.
Trocheck’s goal midway through the period gave them a spark, Zibanejad tied it after Rasmus Ristolainen took a delay of game penalty at 17:00 for shooting the puck in the crowd, and they won the shootout after playing down a man for 2:51 of the five-minute overtime.
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Shesterkin was at his best in the early going, stopping four Grade A chances before the game was four minutes old. Two of them came from right in front against Denver Berkey, the grandson of long-ago Rangers defenseman Randy Legge, who was playing his first NHL game.
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The Rangers began to dominate play after that, but the Flyers gave Ersson plenty of help, blocking 11 shots in the opening period. New York got the period’s only power play when Philly’s Carl Grundstrom was called for tripping Panarin at 13:57; the Rangers had three shots but none was especially dangerous.
The Flyers won the draw after they iced the puck with 42 seconds left, but an excellent play by Zibanejad led to the game’s first goal. Zibanejad jammed the wall and stopped a clearing attempt, then fed Panarin in the high slot. Panarin quickly wristed a 30-footer that beat Ersson cleanly with 35.8 seconds remaining for a 1-0 lead. It was the 24th time in 34 games that the Flyers surrendered the first goal.
But the second period almost proved to be the Blueshirts’ undoing.
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Will Cuylle ended up with the only penalty out of a big scrum at 5:17, and the Flyers made the Rangers pay when Travis Sanheim took a pass from Barkey and beat Shesterkin past his blocker at 6:42. The tie lasted just 25 seconds before Barkey earned another assist, setting up Owen Tippett for a shot from the high slot that again went past Shesterkin’s glove.
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Zegras needed just three seconds to make the Rangers pay for Panarin’s slashing penalty at 10:15. Noah Cates won the draw back to Jamie Drysdale, who fed Zegras for a blast from between the circles that caught the top corner behind Shesterkin’s blocker for a 3-1 lead.
Panarin cut it to 3-2 at 12:23 when he picked off a stray pass in the neutral zone, got into the right circle and beat Ersson. The Rangers got a power play at 13:48 when Nicholas Deslauriers was called for boarding Brennan Othmann before the two took matching fighting majors. But Scott Morrow’s backhand pass was intercepted by Sanheim, setting up a 2-on-1. Sanheim’s pass to the front of the net hit Rodrigo Abols’ skate and slid between Shesterkin’s legs at 14:36, giving the Flyers their first shorthanded goal of the season and a 4-2 lead.
“We went the second period without a goalie,” Shesterkin said of his play in the middle 20 minutes.
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Boos filled the Garden when the Rangers did nothing with a power-play early in the third period, but they turned to cheers when Trocheck backhanded his own rebound between Ersson’s pads at 9:13. Zibanejad’s game-tying one-timer drew even more cheers, and the building was rocking during the overtime penalty kills.
“I loved the response we showed in the third,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the way our guys played in the third period and overtime.”
Key takeaways after Rangers rally to beat Flyers 5-4 in shootoutConfidence booster
The sellout crowd of 18,006 at the Garden almost seemed resigned to another home loss after the dismal second period, and the Rangers themselves seemed downcast until Trocheck’s goal began the comeback.
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From there on, the Blueshirts kept pushing and pushing until they found a way to win, surviving a slashing penalty to Panarin eight seconds into overtime and a tripping call to Morrow with 50.8 seconds remaining.
For a team that hasn’t shown much confidence at home, it was the kind of win that can spark a surge,
“It’s huge for us,” Trocheck said. “The confidence, we need that. We need to know when we’re down a couple goals we can still make it a game and come back.”
The Breadman delivers
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Panarin showed no signs of whatever illness kept him out of Thursday’s 2-1 overtime win at St. Louis. He was flying from the opening face-off, finishing the game with two goals, seven shots on goal and earning First Star of the Game honors.
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It’s the kind of performance the Rangers are going to need on an every-night basis from the man who’s led them in scoring for each of his six seasons on Broadway. They got a taste of what playing without Panarin is like on Thursday, when the offense often looked out of synch in a 2-1 overtime win at St. Louis.
Panarin can become a free agent after this season, and with most of the big names who were on the market having already signed new deals with their current teams, he figures to be the best player available. Even at age 34, he showed Saturday that he still has plenty left in the tank.
Back-to-back issues
The Rangers will be looking for their first victory in the second half of a back-to-back when they take the ice in Nashville on Sunday. They are 0-5-1, with the only point coming in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights at the Garden on Dec. 7.
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The opposition has outscored the Rangers 19-4 in the six games.
The good news is that the Predators also have a back-to-back this weekend; they host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night. The bad news is that unlike the Rangers, the Preds don’t have to travel.
The Rangers are 11-6-0 all-time in Music City, though they lost 2-0 last Dec. 17.
How’s Miller?
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The lone piece of bad news after note from one of the Rangers’ best wins of the season came midway through the third period when captain J.T. Miller collided with Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler.
Miller was on the ice for several seconds, then staggered to the bench and appeared to be holding his right shoulder as he went to the locker room and didn’t return.
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Sullivan said after the game that Miller was being evaluated for an upper-body injury but didn’t know any more. If he can’t play Sunday, Jonny Brodzinski or Taylor Raddysh figures to get the call.
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