Artemi Panarin leaves injured, but Rangers rally late to beat Coyotes

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Call off the alarm. Artemi Panarin is OK, the Rangers say.

Panarin, the Rangers’ talismanic forward and leading scorer, left Wednesday night’s 3-2 win over the Arizona Coyoties after playing just one shift in the second period. But afterward, Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said the Russian left wing had suffered "a minor lower-body’’ injury, and his status is day-to-day.

Asked if he was confident Panarin wouldn’t miss too much time, Gallant said, "yeah, but who knows?’’

The Rangers (19-7-3) rallied to save themselves the embarrassment of losing to the lowly Coyotes (5-21-2) by rallying from behind thanks to two late power play goals, one by Mika Zibanejad and the other by Kaapo Kakko, who scored the winner at 17:42 of the third period.

For Kakko, who took Panarin’s spot on the first power play unit on the two power plays in the third, it was his second goal of the game.

"Yeah, I got a chance on that first power play,’’ Kakko said. "I didn’t know it is that simple. Just go to the net and keep your stick down and it’s going to come. Great pass by Kreids (Chris Kreider) and big goal for us.’’

The Rangers trailed 2-1 after Clayton Keller scored at 8:47 of the third period, and were on the way to what would have been a devastating loss before Arizona forward Phil Kessel was called for an interference penalty at 13:14. A minute into the man advantage, Zibanejad tied the score when he ripped a wrist shot from the top of the left circle through a screen from Kreider and past Arizona goalie Scott Wedgewood.

Then, Arizona was penalized for having too many men on the ice with 2:59 left, giving the Rangers the chance that led to Kakko’s winner.

The win gave the Rangers a split of the two-game road trip, following their loss to Colorado Tuesday night.

Gallant had seemed relatively cheerful about the Rangers’ effort in the loss to Colorado, but he nevertheless made one change to his lineup Wednesday, scratching third line center Filip Chytil and inserting spare forward Greg McKegg.

Gallant admitted after the game that scratching Chytil was based on performance, but he didn’t share specifics about what he wanted to see from the 22-year-old Czech that he hadn’t been seeing.

"It’s just a one-game thing, so we’ll see where it goes next game,’’ Gallant said. "I mean, sometimes you need lessons. I’m not saying that was a lesson tonight, but ... (McKegg’s) been a great guy for us. He’s good in the faceoff circle, he kills some penalties a little bit. So, we’ll see where it goes.’’

Keith Kinkaid, the Farmingville native, got the start in goal, after Alexandar Georgiev had played Tuesday. Kinkaid, who started the season with the Rangers’ AHL team in Hartford, was playing his first game in two-and-a-half weeks after having had COVID-19. He would have been called up when Igor Shesterkin went on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, but because he was in COVID protocol, his backup, Adam Huska, got called up instead. As soon as Kinkaid cleared protocol, he was called up and Huska sent back to Hartford.

He allowed a shorthanded goal to Loui Eriksson at 17:46 of the first period that gave the Coyotes their first lead, and after Kakko tied it up with his rebound goal at 10:40 of the second, Keller got free at the back post and beat Kinkaid on a forehand-backhand move to make it 2-1.

But the two power play goals made Kinkaid (29 saves) a winner in the end.

"I think it’s been like two and a half weeks since a game, let alone an NHL game,’’ Kinkaid said. "So I just had to get in the mode a little bit, and, I think I settled down after the first. A little jitters, but overall, I felt pretty calm and confident.’’

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.