NEW YORK (AP) — Denis Malgin helped the Florida Panthers avoid a bad loss and get consecutive wins for just the third time this season.
Malgin scored with 1:09 left and the Florida Panthers recovered after giving up two three-goal leads to beat the New York Rangers 5-4 Tuesday night.
Malgin — called up on Monday and playing in his seventh game for Florida this season — beat Rangers goalie Ondrej Pavelec from the inside edge of the left circle for his first of the season.
“I think he went down and it was his fourth game in five days,” said the Panthers’ Jonathan Huberdeau, who had a goal and an assist. “Then he comes up and scores the winning goal. That’s pretty impressive.”
Aleksander Barkov, Jamie McGinn and Micheal Haley also scored — all in the first period when Florida built a 3-0 lead — to help the Panthers win for the third time in four games. James Reimer finished with 33 saves.
“We found a way against a team that probably dominated us for the most part,” Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. “It’s a nice feeling when you can find ways to win those games.”
Chris Kreider had two goals and an assist, Pavel Buchnevich added a goal and two assists, and J.T. Miller also scored for the Rangers, who snapped an eight-game winning streak at home and lost for just the third time in their last 13 games overall. David Desharnais had three assist to help New York tie it after trailing 3-0 and 4-1.
Rangers starter Henrik Lundqvist gave up three goals on six shots before he was pulled late in the first period. Pavelec came on and stopped 19 of the 21 shots he faced.
“I wasn’t able to come up with one extra save,” Pavelec said. “It’s disappointing because we battled back. … We were all over them and we were working hard to get back.”
New York was playing without defenseman and captain Ryan McDonagh for the fourth straight game, and leading-scorer Mika Zibanejad was a late scratch due to an upper body injury.
With Florida leading 4-3, Reimer denied a backhand attempt by Jimmy Vesey about 5 1/2 minutes into the third and Boo Nieves couldn’t convert on a pass in front. Rick Nash then hit a post about 9 minutes in.
“Obviously, that’s a really good team over there and they come in waves,” Reimer said. “It was just a great character win from our guys tonight.”
Kreider then tied it with his second goal of the game and 10th of the season with 6:32 remaining as he got a pass from Desharnais from the right side of the net and poked it past Reimer.
Miller pulled the Rangers to 3-1 at 4:04 of the second. Mats Zuccarello’s initial shot from the left side deflected off a Panthers defenseman’s stick and Miller fired it past Reimer for his fourth.
Huberdeau restored the Panthers’ three-goal lead about 4 1/2 minutes later as he beat Pavelec after a scramble in front.
The Rangers then scored twice in a 1:50 span to pull within one. First, Kreider came from behind the net on the right side and passed it in front to Buchnevich, who tapped it past Reimer from the left side for his ninth at 9:26. Buchnevich then sent a pass from the right side to a streaking Kreider in front and he beat Reimer for his ninth with 8:44 remaining in the middle period.
Kevin Hayes appeared to tie it with 4:11 to go in the second, but the officials waved off the goal for goaltender interference due to incidental contact by Nash on Reimer. Rangers coach Alain Vigneault challenged the interference call, but it stood after a video review.
“I think that we might have gotten a little bit of a break there,” Boughner said. “There was initial contact before the incidental contact, and I think that’s what they were concentrating on more than anything.”
Barkov got Florida on the scoreboard on a deflection of a shot by Huberdeau during a power play 5:50 into the game. It was his eighth and came on the Panthers’ first shot on goal.
McGinn doubled Florida’s lead at 9:34, firing a shot from outside the left circle past Lundqvist.
Haley made it 3-0 with 3:13 left from the left circle for his first of the season. Lundqvist, who started for the 13th straight game, was then pulled in favor of Pavelec.
Lightning 2, Sabres 0
BUFFALO — Andrei Vasilevskiy made 34 saves in his second shutout this season, and the Tampa Bay Lightning ended a two-game skid with a victory over the Buffalo Sabres.
Defenseman Dan Girardi and rookie Mikhail Sergachev had goals for the Lightning in the third of a four-game trip. Tampa Bay is off to the best start in franchise history (17-5-2) but had lost consecutive games for the first time this season.
Vasilevskiy leads the NHL with 16 wins and has six career shutouts in 101 starts.
Robin Lehner stopped 24 shots for the Sabres, who were held scoreless for the second straight game and have lost nine of 10.
Sharks 3, Flyers 1
PHILADELPHIA — Joe Thornton scored the go-ahead goal late in the first period and the Sharks extended the Flyers’ longest losing streak in nearly 10 years to nine games.
Chris Tierney and Marc-Edouard Vlasic also scored and Logan Couture had two assists for the Sharks, who kicked off a four-game trip with their second straight win.
Claude Giroux scored 48 seconds in before the Flyers were blanked the rest of the way by backup Aaron Dell, who made 22 saves.
Islanders 5, Canucks 2
NEW YORK — Calvin de Haan and Jordan Eberle scored goals one minute apart in the first period to spark the Islanders to a win over the Canucks.
Eberle now has goals in three straight games and recorded his 400th NHL point as New York improved to 15-7-2 overall and 8-0-2 at Barclays Center.
Andrew Ladd, Anders Lee and John Tavares also scored goals for New York, and rookie center Mathew Barzal recorded the primary assist on Eberle’s goal.
Jaroslav Halak made 22 saves for the Islanders.
Vancouver dropped to 11-10-4 with its third straight loss, all to the three teams in the New York City metropolitan area.
Thomas Vanek and Bo Horvat scored for the Canucks, while Anders Nilsson stopped 31 shots.
Blue Jackets 3, Hurricanes 2, SO
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Cam Atkinson and Artemi Panarin scored in the shootout to give the Blue Jackets a win over the Hurricanes.
Zach Werenski had a goal and an assist, and Josh Anderson also scored for the Blue Jackets, who won their first game after their season-best six-game winning streak ended. Columbus has won five in a row at home.
Joonas Korpisalo, making a rare start in place of Sergei Bobrovsky, made 29 saves in regulation and overtime for the Blue Jackets.
Kings 4, Red Wings 1
DETROIT — Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar scored 2:10 apart late in the second period to put the Kings ahead and they went on to beat the Red Wings.
Jonathan Quick made 23 saves, including some spectacular stops in the second period that kept the Kings within a goal.
His teammates took advantage.
After Brown and Kopitar puts the Kings ahead, they pulled away in the third. Adrian Kempe scored early in the period and Kopitar’s second goal of the game gave Los Angeles a three-goal cushion with 7-plus minutes left.
The Red Wings started strong, but couldn’t recover when they failed to get another shot past Quick.
Detroit’s Mike Green broke a scoreless tie late in the second period and Jimmy Howard finished with 32 saves.
Predators 3, Blackhawks 2
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Pekka Rinne made 37 saves to lead the Predators to a win over the Blackhawks.
Filip Forsberg, Austin Watson and Roman Josi scored goals for the Predators, who have won 10 of 12.
Tommy Wingels and Lance Bouma had the goals for Chicago, which had its two-game winning streak snapped.
With Nashville clinging to a one-goal lead late in the third, Rinne made his best save of the night when he denied Nick Schmaltz’s backhand from just outside the crease on a shorthanded breakaway. He later denied Wingels with the left pad in the game’s final minute.
Oilers 3, Coyotes 2, OT
EDMONTON, Alberta — Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored 4:20 into overtime as the Oilers defeated the Coyotes for their second win in a row.
Zack Kassian and Matt Benning also scored for the Oilers, who have only won two straight games on one other occasion all season.
Christian Fischer and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored for the Coyotes, who have lost three of their last four games.
Maple Leafs 4, Flames 1
CALGARY, Alberta — Roman Polak scored his first goal of the season and Frederik Andersen made 19 saves as the Maple Leafs beat the Flames.
The game was scoreless until late in the first period when Polak gave the visitors a lead they would not relinquish with a fluke goal that pinballed off two Flames on the way into the net.
Polak’s slap shot from the blue line first deflected off Mark Jankowski and then, as it was going well wide of the Calgary net, it deflected off the knee of Travis Hamonic and straight past goaltender Mike Smith.
Nikita Zaitsev, Nazem Kadri and Leo Komarov, with an empty-netter, also scored for Toronto.
Stars 3, Golden Knights 0
LAS VEGAS — Radek Faksa scored three goals and Ben Bishop registered his second shutout of the season, as the Stars defeated the Golden Knights.
Faksa scored all of his goals in the second period, while Bishop stopped 34 shots for the Stars.
Bishop, who was traded from the Los Angeles Kings in May, recorded his first shutout as a member of the Stars on Nov. 10 against the New York Islanders.
Vegas came into the game ranked second in the NHL in goals per game with 3.68 and fifth in goals with 81.
