Rangers show fight against Panthers but lose fourth straight game

SUNRISE, Fla. — When you lose for the 15th time in the last 19 games, can you take solace from playing two strong offensive games in a row?

Probably not, but that’s all the Rangers have to console themselves with.

They closed out 2024 with a good but losing effort against the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Monday night at Amerant Bank Arena.

Jesper Boqvist scored twice and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 33 saves as the Panthers handed the Rangers their fourth straight loss, 5-3.

The Rangers (16-19-1), who had 44 shots on goal Saturday in a 6-2 loss to Tampa Bay, outshot the Panthers 36-26, out-attempted them 72-62 and had more scoring chances (34-32) and high-danger chances (15-14). They rallied from two goals down in the second and a goal down in the third and scored a power-play goal for the first time since Dec. 11.

And still they lost.

“It’s hard to be happy with [playing well], because we’re still losing,’’ Artemi Panarin said. “But at least we didn’t give up and we played good hockey, I think. We still had chances to make it even, but we’re not doing that.’’

The Rangers came back from an early 2-0 deficit to tie it in the second period, but the score did not remain tied for long. Boqvist’s first goal, at 16:55 of the second, put the Panthers (23-13-2) back in front 38 seconds later.

The Rangers tied it at 3 on a power-play goal by Chris Kreider at 5:19 of the third. The Rangers’ power play, which entered the game having failed to score in its last 23 opportunities, had come up empty in its first two tries Monday. But after Carter Verhaeghe went to the box for tripping at 4:56 of the third, Kreider buried a feed from Panarin from the slot.

Boqvist’s second goal — he popped in the rebound of a shot by his brother Adam — gave the Panthers the lead for good at 11:38.

Igor Shesterkin, who turned 29 on Monday, had saved Jesper Boqvist’s initial breakaway shot, but the puck got recycled out to the point, and when Adam Boqvist shot it, Jesper Boqvist was in perfect position to get the rebound.

Aleksander Barkov’s empty-netter at 19:23 sealed things.

“We did enough to win the game. We did enough to lose the game,’’ Peter Laviolette said. “And it is frustrating, because you feel like you’re doing more good than you are bad out there. But at the end of the day, it’s not showing on the scoreboard. And that’s the business, it’s winning. So it’s not good enough.’’

It added to Laviolette’s frustration that two of the Panthers’ goals — one by Mackie Samoskevich that made it 2-0 at 5:21 of the first and Boqvist’s tying goal in the third — looked as though they might have involved the Panthers interfering with Shesterkin.

Laviolette challenged the Samoskevich goal, but after video review, the goal was allowed and the Rangers were assessed a minor penalty for delay of game.

“Igor goes to make a save with his glove, and his glove gets pushed out of the way while it’s still in the blue paint,’’ Laviolette said. “I think it’s a save, to me [if Samoskevich doesn’t hit the glove]. It’s 100% goaltender interference.’’

As for the first Boqvist goal, which came after Ryan Lindgren’s redirect of Adam Fox’s pass had tied the score at 2, Laviolette considered challenging that one, too. Shesterkin had done the splits to get his left skate over and stop a wraparound shot by Anton Lundell. Verhaeghe swatted Shesterkin’s skate with his stick, popping the puck loose and right to Boqvist with Shesterkin lying on his stomach and completely out of position. Boqvist put it into an open net.

Ultimately, Laviolette said, he remembered challenging a similar goal call last season and it didn’t go the Rangers’ way.

“The puck was under the goaltender but not tied up, without a whistle, and a player goes in with his stick, and we can’t tell if it’s completely loose or half-loose,’’ he said. “The call on the ice was a goal, and so you’d have to have evidence to prove that [it wasn’t].’’

Notes & quotes: Eetu Luostarinen scored the Panthers’ first goal when he tipped in a shot by Gustav Forsling at 3:04 of the first period . . . Filip Chytil got the Rangers on the board, cutting the deficit to 2-1 with his first goal in seven games at 14:25 of the second period. Chytil had a game-high seven shots on goal.

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.