Rangers rally from three goals down to beat Islanders in Stadium Series at MetLife, winning on Artemi Panarin's OT goal
Artemi Panarin #10 of the Rangers scores the overtime goal past Ilya Sorokin #30 of the New York Islanders during their Stadium Series game at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Outdoors or indoors, this was as uplifting for the Rangers to rally from three goals down for a 6-5 overtime victory as it was a brutal disappointment for the Islanders.
“Minus the way that game ended, it was a pretty great experience,” Islanders forward Anders Lee said after the teams met for the first time this season in a Stadium Series match at MetLife Stadium. “Both sets of fans were great. The building was great. They saw a great hockey game. But yeah, it’s a sour ending for us.”
The wind whipped in the players’ faces, the puck bounced perhaps more than usual and 79,690 fans — approximately two-thirds rooting for the Rangers — filled the football facility on a sunny Sunday afternoon that morphed into a shadowy early evening, with temperatures starting at 41 degrees before dipping.
Both teams arrived on fire trucks. The Rangers exited as the only team in NHL history with five wins in outdoor games after Artemi Panarin’s video-reviewed goal 10 seconds into the extra period.
“The way we won was pretty remarkable,” said Rangers defenseman Adam Fox, who had two assists. “We were down two goals twice and even three goals at one point but stuck with it. The way to end that in overtime was cool. It was such an awesome experience. Every guy was fired up with the whole thing.”
There also were plenty of elements familiar to the Islanders-Rangers rivalry, including one fight, post-buzzer scrums after the first two periods and another in the third period.
The Rangers (36-16-3), who won their seventh straight after falling behind 4-1 early in the second period and 5-3 following Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov’s shovel goal at 1:53 of the third period, went 3-for-5 on the power play. They tied the score with six-on-four goals by Chris Kreider at 15:52 of the third period and Mika Zibanejad at 18:31.
“It’s a game we’ve been looking forward to,” Zibanejad said. “The atmosphere was incredible. To win in the way we did was incredible.”
Panarin scored the winner after defenseman Noah Dobson spoiled an otherwise splendid day — he had three assists to give him a career-high 51 in 54 games — by turning the puck over deep in his end. The net was knocked off its moorings, prompting an NHL review that upheld the goal after it was determined that Dobson did the knocking.
“It was unfortunate,” he said. “I need to make a little bit better play there to get a better result. It happened so quick. I’m sure the league and refs got the right call on it.”
“Honestly, I don’t remember that goal very well at this point because I got flooded with a wave of emotions and excitement,” Panarin said. “But I’m 80% sure that the puck crossed the line. It definitely was a goal.”
Ilya Sorokin made 32 saves for the Islanders (22-18-14), who have dropped three straight and had been idle since a 2-1 shootout loss to the Kraken on Tuesday night at UBS Arena. The Rangers got two goals from Vincent Trocheck and 36 saves from Igor Shesterkin after the Islanders took a 35-20 shot advantage through two periods.
“We got ourselves in some penalty trouble, whether we agree with some of them or not, and weren’t able to get a kill, and that turns out to be the difference,” said Brock Nelson, who tied it at 1-1 at 4:20 of the first period. He also scored in the Islanders’ only previous outdoor game, a 2-1 loss to the Rangers at Yankee Stadium on Jan. 29, 2014.
“Trust me, the night wasn’t perfect for us,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “It wasn’t a script we would have written. I thought the Islanders played extremely hard, especially the first half of that game. They were firing everything on the net.”
Defenseman Erik Gustafsson scored from the left point on the Rangers’ first shot at 1:28 of the first period. But Bo Horvat, with the teams skating four-on-four, and Mathew Barzal on the ensuing power play scored 16 seconds apart to give the Islanders a 3-1 lead at 7:34 of the first period.
Lee’s power-play deflection of Pierre Engvall’s shot made it 4-1 at 1:03 of the second period before Trocheck scored on the power play at 5:36 of the second period and made it a one-goal game at 18:24.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
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