It felt like deja vu for the Rangers.
The Rangers once again fell short to the Panthers, whom they have already lost to twice this season.
In the third test between two of the NHL’s strongest teams, the Rangers quickly looked like they were headed for another failure, losing 2-0 in a tough loss.
But then star defenseman Adam Fox turned the game around.
Panthers forward Kyle Okposo drew a penalty because he was called for a hold, then drove inside on a power play before making a wrist shot to close the gap on the Rangers, making it two at 6:22 into the second period. -1. A look at Saturday night’s 4-3 shootout victory at Madison Square Garden.
“You definitely saw us gaining a little bit of momentum,” Fox said of his goal. “Once the crowd gets into it, we can get fired up. Then we start generating, we start playing in their end, we cause some turnovers, and we really get fired up from there. You can always kind of feel it when things aren’t going right, but that’s all you need. Little things like that. … I thought we had some good momentum swinging there.”
Just 2 minutes and 1 second later, red-hot forward Artemi Panarin scored the tying goal, sending Madison Square Garden into a frenzy.
The Rangers bounced back from almost running out of their own building to one of the most thrilling wins of the year.
After just one playthrough, the game felt completely different.
“Two more goals, we need a spark,” forward Vincent Trocheck said of Fox’s goal. “We need to score the next one. Three losses against a team like this is going to be a big hole to climb out of. So to get the next one, we have to move down one place. We need to do that, and it’s going to be a long process. …That was a big deal.”
Fox assisted on Panarin’s goal, bringing his total to 14 goals and 47 points this season.
His 61 points are seventh-most among all defensemen in the league.
He has been playing his best hockey in recent weeks when the Rangers needed him the most, scoring 10 points (4 goals, 6 assists) in the past seven games, helping the Rangers to advance to the NHL in a short period of time. It was a tough period where he competed against many elite athletes. period.
Fox’s performance will be crucial as the Rangers are without defensemen Jacob Trouba and Ryan Lindgren, who are battling lower-body injuries.
“[Fox is] He’s really noticeable on the ice right now,” head coach Peter Laviolette said. “He’s playing at an elite level right now. But I think all of our defensemen are playing really well right now. The numbers that we expect and are a big part of our Removing another player from the lineup [defense]guys step in there and fill those shoes and fill the void for now, and that’s just the attitude of the next guy.
“For me, what I see there is [Fox’s] The game is his offense in the game, both defensively and definitely offensively. The way he attacks the game is on another level. ”
With this win, the Rangers increased their points total to 98, tying them with the Canucks for the most points in the NHL and moving them into pole position for the Presidents Trophy.
That probably wouldn’t have been possible if Fox hadn’t turned the tide.
“Anytime a team beats us, we want to get revenge and beat them,” Fox said. “They had two [wins] Against us, both games were close, by one point, but it didn’t make any difference. [Saturday night], a tense match. It was definitely a good effort because they’re a good team and they’re at the top of the league for a reason. It’s a big one. ”
— Additional reporting by Molly Walker
