*Photo from the Sun Sentinel*
It was a big game for the Blue Shirts. Mika Zibanejad had two goals and an assist, Adam Fox had a goal and two assists, and the New York Rangers defeated the Florida Panthers with a 6-2 victory on Monday night in Manhattan.
Zibanejad and Fox each had 3 point games for the Rangers in the win, now with a 7-2-1 record in their last 10 games. Kaapo Kakko had two assists as well, with Artemi Panarin having 3 assists. The Rangers are now 3rd place in the Metropolitan Division with a 26-14-7 record.
Fox said of all the 3 point games that "I think we were just getting to open areas for each other. The big thing on a couple of those goals was spread the ice, spread them out, open things up and got some good looks from that."
It was Fox who started the scoring for the Rangers, giving them a 1-0 lead with his 10th goal of the season, coming 3:03 into the game. Carter Verhaeghe scored his 23rd goal of the season for the Panthers, getting them on the board with a power play goal. Zibanejad then scored a power play goal of his own to make it 2-1 Rangers.
Jimmy Vesey provided the only goal of the second period, making the score 3-1 for the Rangers. Zibanejad and Alexis Lafreniere scored to open the 3rd period for the Rangers to make the score 5-1. Aleksander Barkov scored for the Panthers to cut the deficit to 5-2 before Filip Chytil scored to make it a 6-2 final score.
Panarin said of the goal scoring that "It's always good when the puck is going in with not many shots on net, so of course it's better for our mood, excited, energy coming. That's always nice when you shoot a few and score a few. That happens sometimes."
Starting in goal for the Rangers was Igor Shesterkin, who was able to put together a strong game to get the win. Shesterkin stopped 33 of the 35 shots he saw from the Panthers, good for a .943 save percentage. His record is now 21-8-6.
Getting the start for the Panthers was Alex Lyon, who couldn't outduel Shesterkin and fell to 2-1-0 with the loss. Lyon turned aside 20 out of the 25 shots on goal he faced, recording an even .800 save percentage.
Florida head coach Paul Maurice said that "We got into tonight in great shape by some great play, and we were a little off on our execution and it's because we're a little behind it now, we're a little gassed. But I think tomorrow we come out with even more energy. I think tomorrow is the light at the end of the tunnel. We'll get two days off, and that hasn't happened since the start of the month. And after tomorrow we've got 20 home games left, so we'll get them rested and ready to go."
Up next, the Panthers wrap up a back to back with a Tuesday night showdown against the Pittsburgh Penguins, with Spencer Knight expected to start. Shesterkin is projected to start for the Rangers against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday.
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