Rangers get first 2-goal comeback of their season, rally to top Panthers 5-3

SUNRISE Fla AP Vincent Trocheck scored a short-handed goal early in the third period against his former band and the New York Rangers beat the Florida Panthers - on Monday night Trocheck playing in his th competition got the go-ahead goal during a Rangers comeback like none other this season The Rangers were - - in games where they trailed by two or more goals the NHL s only winless crew this season in such a scenario But they got goals from Juuso Parssinen and J T Miller apart late in the second to tie the match erasing a - deficit Matt Rempe and Jonny Brodzinski also scored for the Rangers Sam Reinhart scored twice and Carter Verhaeghe also had a goal for Florida which got two assists from Aleksander Barkov The loss means Florida is locked into third place in the Atlantic Division and will open the Stanley Cup playoffs on the road Takeaways Rangers Florida fans gave retiring Rangers broadcaster Sam Rosen a warm ovation during a first-period stoppage in play when he was shown on the video screens Panthers coach Paul Maurice and general manager hockey operations president Bill Zito also paid tribute to Rosen before his final road battle Panthers Florida necessities a win at Tampa Bay on Tuesday to reach points for the third time in the last four seasons The Panthers got to the -point mark once in the franchise s first seasons Key moment Trocheck s blast from the left circle came in a stretch where Florida kept losing the puck with the man advantage and the Rangers made them pay Key stat For the second consecutive year the Panthers have five -goal scorers Verhaeghe got there Monday joining Reinhart Barkov Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett the same fivesome as last year Up next Rangers end the season at home Thursday against Tampa Bay Florida visits the Lightning on Tuesday to end its regular season AP NHL https apnews com NHL Source