The New York Rangers celebrated the 31st birthday of Artemi Panarin and then had a front-row seat to one of the best players showing out.
The birthday boy had points in every single goal the Rangers scored, and New York outlasted the Arizona Coyotes 3-2 on Sunday.
Panarin got the scoring started in the second period with an excellent pass to a cutting Alexis Lafreniere who chipped in a goal for his second goal of the season and an early 1-0 lead. Arizona would quickly follow suit though.
A Panarin penalty gave the Coyotes a powerplay opportunity they would end up converting and tying the game at one. Nick Bjugstad later buried a Ryan Lindgren turnover in front of the crease and Arizona led 2-1.
The Ranger struggled to solve another goaltender who came into the game with mediocre stats. Connor Ingram entered Sunday night’s contest with an 87% save percentage and a GAA of 4.02. He was more than excellent against the Blueshirts though, saving 36 shots on 39 tries while keeping the Rangers’ offense at bay for most of the contest.
It wasn’t enough to keep the lead in the second period, or in the contest. Artemi Panarin scored his fifth goal of the season and 15th point of the year to tie the game at two.
With the Rangers on the second night of a back-to-back following a 6-3 win against the Dallas Stars on Saturday, a deadlocked contest the very next night meant that the team used a strong final period again to get their second straight win.
Mika Zibanejad scored the winning goal on a powerplay shot late in the third off of assists from Chris Kreider and Panarin. Igor Shesterkin tallied 18 saves on 20 shots and recorded his first back-to-back start in the Gerard Gallant era, and only the second time in his career. The win moved Igor Shesterkin to 5-0-2 on the season and have the most consecutive starts with a point to start a season for the Rangers since 1981.
The win moves the Rangers to 5-3-2 and a tie with the New Jersey Devils atop the Metropolitan division. The Blueshirts will be back at home at Madison Square Garden Tuesday night when New York faces the upstart Flyers.
Game Notes
- Vitali Kravtsov was inactive for Sunday’s game after suffering an upper-body injury on Saturday in the win against Dallas. In his place, Ryan Reaves took over the fourth-line duties.
- Ryan Lindgren left Sunday’s contest after being hit with a puck to end the second period, however, he played deep into the third period without any apparent issues.
- Panarin’s three-point night was his 103rd since the 2018-19 season and is tied for the fourth most in that span with Auston Matthews.
