NEW YORK — When J.T. Miller fumbled a puck at the blue line, leading to the Dallas Stars’ go-ahead goal in the third period, the New York Rangers could have folded. Last season’s team probably would have. This year’s club might have on some nights, too.

But playing against the high-powered Stars — the No. 2 team in the NHL — these Rangers did the opposite.

“We didn’t sink,” coach Mike Sullivan said after a 3-2 overtime win. “You can tell when those types of moments affect a team, either in a negative way or the opposite. You could feel it on the bench. The feeling I got tonight was that the response was the right one.”

Thanks in part to a four-minute power play drawn by Alexis Lafrenière, the Rangers had dominated play ahead of Mikko Rantanen’s goal to put Dallas up 2-1. They picked their strong play right back up after the setback.

Rookie defenseman Matthew Robertson fired a pair of shots on net less than two minutes after Rantanen’s goal, and his teammates continued the push the rest of the frame. In total, the Rangers led 18-4 in third-period shots. Finally, with 2:13 left, Will Cuylle picked up a loose puck and flung it off goalie Casey DeSmith’s pad and into the net. Stick in hand, he uppercutted the air in exhilaration.

If a goal in that situation felt like uncharted territory for the Rangers, it’s because they hadn’t scored a tying goal in the final three minutes of a game since March 2, 2024. But the six-on-five unit Tuesday, using six forwards and no defensemen with Adam Fox injured, delivered.

“You’re going to be down one goal quite a bit in this league,” said Vincent Trocheck, who tipped Artemi Panarin’s shot ahead of Cuylle’s goal. “So to be able to have confidence, go out there six-on-five and contribute and get us back in the game is huge.”

The Rangers needed a win like this. They needed to show they could respond from an abysmal showing Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning; that they could beat a good team in their own building and do it in comeback fashion to boot. This was the type of game that coach Mike Sullivan has been searching for all year. Not only was the team’s approach correct, but it was also rewarded.

“I think it shows some resilience in here, just bouncing back and being able to reset,” Cuylle said. “Being proud of the way we play in front of our fans is really important to all of us, so I’m glad we could put out a good effort today and get the win.”

The overtime hero was a worthy one. Defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, shouldering a new burden with Fox out for multiple weeks, backhanded in a Panarin rebound. It was an alert offensive play from a player the Rangers signed over the summer primarily because of his defensive prowess.

“Turns out he’s also one of our better net-front guys, too,” Trocheck quipped.

“I won’t lie: I’m surprised with how effective he’s been just with his instincts, in particular the way he jumps off the offensive blue line,” Sullivan added. “He’s really good at the timing of when he jumps. … It’s hard to teach that.”

The goal capped off a brilliant game by the defenseman. He played 22:29 — that likely would’ve been more had New York not had 10 minutes of power-play time — and the Rangers had more than 73 percent of the expected goal share with him on the ice at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.

“He’s been everything we had hoped he’d be and then some,” Sullivan said.

Goodnight, Rangers fans ☺️ pic.twitter.com/Tq83CBGdl1

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) December 3, 2025

Here are seven other thoughts from the game.

1. The Rangers stressed how good it felt to win at home. This was only their third victory at Madison Square Garden in 12 tries.

“Finally, we make our fans happy,” Panarin said.

“I’m happy for the players because obviously they care a lot about winning, but they care in particular a lot about winning at home,” Sullivan added. “I think they worked hard, and I think they earned it.”

2. Carson Soucy committed both Rangers penalties on the night, but he also got his team’s offense going in the first period. Conor Sheary got the puck at the end of a first-period penalty kill and whipped it off the boards to Soucy coming out of the box. Soucy moved it to Noah Laba, giving his teammate a partial breakaway. The young center fired a shot on DeSmith. It sneaked through him, and Soucy swiped it from the crease and into the net.

3. The Rangers’ third line of Cuylle, Laba and Brett Berard was buzzing, especially in the first period. Laba picked up a point on Soucy’s goal and was as noticeable as he’s been in recent weeks. Berard nearly set him up with a nifty goal on a two-on-one: He toe-dragged around a defender and passed, fooling DeSmith, but Laba couldn’t corral the puck for a shot. The trio moved the puck well later that shift, leading to a clean look for Cuylle. DeSmith made the save. The Rangers ended the game leading 11-4 in five-on-five shot attempts with that line on the ice, according to Natural Stat Trick.

4. The Rangers are still looking for more offense from Miller. He has only seven five-on-five points this season.

5. With Fox out, the Rangers are using five forwards on the top power-play unit. The group struggled to generate much in its first three tries, but it started to hum in after Lafrenière drew a double minor. Mika Zibanejad nearly scored on a one-timer, and he and Cuylle both nearly put home loose pucks shortly after. Zibanejad got another good look that hit DeSmith’s pad before the power play ended. Ultimately, the four minutes resulted in no goals, but it was an encouraging stretch nonetheless.

“I thought they got better as the game went on,” Sullivan said. “Without Foxy up there, it’s a very different look. We’re asking guys to do things that maybe isn’t in their comfort zone. We know they’re capable, but I think they’ll get better in time when they get repetitions at it.”

Panarin in particular has a changed role. He’s in Fox’s spot at the point. Though he and Fox occasionally switched spots within individual power plays, doing it full time is a different beast. He said he got used to Dallas’ aggressive kill more as the game went on.

“He has elite talent, he has elite vision, he has the ability to distribute pucks up there, and he’s very good at finding ways to get pucks through from up top, which is an important attribute when you’re playing that position,” Sullivan said.

6. The penalty kill also stymied Dallas on its two power-play attempts. The Stars had only three power-play shots. Two were dangerous slot looks from Wyatt Johnston in the first period, but Igor Shesterkin made both saves.

The Rangers called Brennan Othmann up after Adam Edström’s injury, but he was a healthy scratch against the Stars.

Othmann has played only one NHL game this year: a 5-1 loss at the Calgary Flames in which he made a costly defensive blunder. Sullivan didn’t play him for the rest of the trip, then the organization sent him to AHL Hartford. Asked whether the young forward had made defensive improvement in Hartford, Sullivan said yes.

“That’s the process: Just building more detail around his game, having a certain level of predictability and reliability, play away from the puck, and (understanding) some of the details of how we’re trying to play from a tactical standpoint,” Sullivan said.

Still, Sullivan hadn’t seen enough to put him back in the lineup. He went with Sheary, who had been a healthy scratch the previous three games. He had an assist and played 11:19.

7. The Rangers had 28 comeback wins in 2023-24, tied for third all time in a single season. They regressed to 16 in 2024-25 and did not have any game-tying goals with their goalie pulled at the end of a game. Tuesday was the fourth time the Rangers had a comeback win this season. They’ll need to build on that if they’re going to stay in the playoff mix.