NEW YORK — Filip Chytil tied the game with 6:25 remaining in the third period, and Artemi Panarin scored the deciding goal in the third round of the shootout to lift the New York Rangers to a 4-3 comeback win against the Minnesota Wild at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
Chytil was able to get his stick into a large scrum of players in front of the net to poke the loose puck past the Wild goalie. Marc-Andre Fleury to tie the game 3-3.
Panarin roofed a backhand to give the Rangers the advantage in the shootout. Kaapo Kakko also scored in the shootout, and Igor Shesterkin (29 saves) stopped the last two shots he faced from Kirill Kaprizov and Frederick Gaudreau after giving up a goal to Mats Zuccarello.
“We had that power play in OT and didn’t get it done; we had a couple looks at it but didn’t score,” New York coach Gerard Gallant said. “But fortunately for us, ‘Breadman’ is pretty good in the shootout and Kaapo Kakko is pretty good. I thought we deserved to win the hockey game.”
Video: MIN@NYR: Panarin, Shesterkin power Rangers in SO
Adam Fox and K’Andre Miller each had an assist on Chytil’s goal after each defenseman scored in the second period.
The Rangers (23-12-7) were down 2-0 in the first period and 3-2 early in the third, but still extended their point streak to six games (4-0-2). They are 12-2-2 since Dec. 5.
“It’s pretty important for a team like ours, especially if we make the playoffs,” Panarin said of the comeback win. “It’s an important skill if we can go together and keep it, it doesn’t matter how things are going, we can do the same thing.”
Jon MerrillKaprizov and Zuccarello scored for the Wild (22-14-4), who have lost three straight games (0-1-2). Sam Steele had two assists, and Fleury made 40 saves.
“We got some points, but we all know it’s not good enough,” Fleury said. “The standings are so close. To make playoffs you need points, we need to get wins. It’s about getting out of this slump as quickly as possible to start winning again.”
Merrill gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead at 12:36 of the first period with a shot through a screen Joel Eriksson Ek beat Shesterkin on the far side.
The Wild took a 2-0 lead on Kaprizov’s goal off the rush at 17:43.
“We were down 2-0 in the first, I thought we could have won after the first period,” Fox said. “But we battled. If we play like that I think we’re going to win a lot of games.”
Miller scored on a breakaway at 2:37 of the second period to make it 2-1. Jimmy Vesey forced Matt Boldy into a turnover just inside the blue line. Miller won a foot race to the puck, fending off Boldy and beating Merrill, to go in alone on Fleury.
Video: MIN@NYR: Miller powers past defenders and scores
Fox tied it 2-2 at 15:50 with a shot from the right circle that got under Fleury’s blocker. Zuccarello’s turnover inside the Rangers blue line led to a 2-on-1 rush with Fox and Vincent Trocheck.
“I definitely think I wanted to pass but I saw a little opening there, I just tried to put it in an area,” Fox said. “Not a goal scorer by any means, so just trying to find a little area there and I was happy it went in.”
Zuccarello called the Wild’s play in the second period “horrendous” and “horrible.”
Wild coach Dean Evason lamented the turnovers by Boldy and Zuccarello.
“We can’t live with just giving them the puck and obviously the first two goals we turned the puck over,” Evason said. “Those pucks both should have been put into safer areas. We turned the puck over at the blue line and the team scored two goals on us. Those two goals shouldn’t happen.”
Zuccarello gave Minnesota a 3-2 lead at 4:33 of the third period, when his shot from the right circle hit off Shesterkin’s glove, went over the goalie’s head and into the net.
But the Rangers came back again when Fox got the puck to the net by going around Fleury at the left post and Chytil poked it in to even it up 3-3, ending a shift for him, Vesey and Barclay Goodrow that lasted 1:39 spent in the offensive zone.
Video: MIN@NYR: Chytil jams puck home to tie the game in the 3rd
The Rangers had two shots on goal and five shot attempts during the shift.
“When you have possession and you have good opportunities to shoot and you get chances, that’s what we had the whole shift,” Chytil said. “At the end we scored not the nicest goal, but important and a big goal for our team.”
The Rangers had six shots in overtime, including four on a power play after the Wild were called for too many men on the ice at 2:35.
“I felt real good about our game tonight,” Gallant said.
NOTES: Zuccarello missed the previous two games with an upper-body injury, and Fleury did not play in the Wild’s 3-0 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Sunday because he was away from the team because of a personal matter. … Rangers forwards Chris Kreider and Julien Gauthier each sustained an upper-body injury and will be reevaluated Wednesday, Gallant said.
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