RECAP: Barkov’s highlight-reel assist sparks Panthers in win over Rangers

NEW YORK – Aleksander Barkov should consider taking his show on Broadway.

Gaining a spark from a highlight-reel assist by their superstar captain, the Florida Panthers turned heads with a 4-2 win over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday.

“This is like one of those places where you don’t need that extra motivation,” said Barkov, whose puck-juggling assist to set up a power-play goal for Sam Reinhart in the second period got the Panthers on the board and set social media ablaze across the NHL. “You come here to New York and the most famous arena, it’s always fun to play here no matter what. This is it.”

Taking down the top team in the Metropolitan Division, the Panthers have won 15 of their last 17 games to improve to 42-16-4 and gain a two-point cushion atop the overall standings in the NHL.

Also improving to 2-0-0 against the Rangers this season, Florida surrendered no goals at 5-on-5 tonight.

“We got faster as the game went on, which we really liked,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. “Some similarities to our last game. The power-play goal that got us to even was really important because we seemed to have better legs after that. We built as the game went on.”

Just after their power play expired, the Rangers opened the scoring when Will Cuylle snuck a rebound through Sergei Bobrovsky’s five-hole to make it 1-0 at 16:40 of the first period.

Earning a power play in the second period after Eetu Luostarinen just managed to get out of the way of a charging 6-foot-8 Matt Rempe and draw a trip, the Panthers evened the score.

Showing off a level of skill that only a select few players can claim to possess, Barkov juggled the puck with his stick in transition before setting up Reinhart for a goal from the right doorstep with a cross-ice pass while falling down to the ice to make it 1-1 at 10:11.

Even after the game had ended, jaws were still on the floor.

“Still shocked,” Panthers forward Ryan Lomberg said. “It’s crazy. He doesn’t even understand how sick it was. He’s so nonchalant that that to him is just like another assist because of how he carries himself. Watching that live and seeing the team’s reaction, it was a pretty sweet goal.”

With momentum on their side after Barkov’s slick setup fired up the squad, the Panthers took the lead soon after when Reinhart finished off a nifty give-and-go with the captain by cutting back into the slot and one-timing a shot past Igor Shesterkin to make it 2-1 at 12:56.

Already up to 44 goals, Reinhart, who’s lit the lamp five times in his last three games, now boasts the third best goal-scoring campaign in franchise history. With 20 games left to play, he trails only Pavel Bure’s two Rocket Richard seasons in 1990-00 (58) and 2000-01 (59).

“That’s kind of the way it goes for me in my career,” Reinhart said. “When one goes, it seems to open the floodgates a little bit. I’m just trying to get to the net and find the open places.”

After a double-minor penalty against the Panthers, the Rangers quickly pulled even again when Chris Kreider buried a rebound from the left side of the net to make it 2-2 at 15:26.

Turning to the Lomberghini in the third period, Lomberg put Florida back on top when he beat Shesterkin with a far-side shot from well beyond the left circle to make it 3-2 at 6:11.

“I picked the puck up and had a little bit of space to skate it in,” Lomberg said. “Threw it in between (Rangers defenseman Jacob) Trouba’s legs there and it found the back of the net.”

With an assist on the play, Gustav Forsling earned his third multi-point game since Feb. 15.

Keeping the Panthers on top, Bobrovsky, who's now tied for first in the NHL with 31 wins, pushed out of his crease and gloved a point-blank redirect from Mika Zibanejad in the slot at 9:45.

Finishing with 26 saves, that was one of seven high-danger stops for No. 72.

With the Rangers pulling Shesterkin for a late 6-on-5 advantage, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, despite having only one glove, managed to clear the puck out of the zone and onto the stick of Anton Lundell, who then cashed in on the empty net to nail down the 4-2 win at 19:01.

In one of their toughest tests to date, the Panthers once again passed with flying colors.

“We’re just kind of taking it day by day right now,” Reinhart said. “We had a big challenge ahead of us today. We got the job done and we liked our game. Now, it’s get ready for tomorrow.”

THEY SAID IT

“I thought we did a very good job. Everyone kind of played the same way. We stuck to our game plan. It’s nice when a bounce goes your way and you get the go-ahead [goal].” – Sam Reinhart

“It’s huge. For us, it’s about building our game and trying to play the right way and trying to find something in every game to get better at.” – Aleksander Barkov

“We knew it was going to be a big one coming in. They’re all big for us at this time of the year. We have to make sure our game is dialed in and in the right spot we want it to be.” – Ryan Lomberg

“(Aleksander Barkov’s) such a big, powerful man. Even if I got really, really lucky, I’m never having a day like that. That’s the thing about some of these things that these skill guys do. The level of hand-eye coordination to do something like that, I’ll have to watch it three or four times to appreciate.” – Paul Maurice

CATS STATS

- The Panthers allowed just 38 shot attempts at 5-on-5.

- Sam Reinhart is the sixth player in the last 20 years to score 25 goals on the power play.

- The Panthers improved to 22-8-2 on the road this season.

- Aleksander Barkov went 12-for-15 (80%) in the faceoff circle.

- Sam Bennett blocked a team-high four shots on goal.

- Brandon Montour skated in his 500^th NHL game.

- Sergei Bobrovsky has surrendered two or fewer goals in 11 straight starts.

WHAT’S NEXT?

No time to rest.

Hoping to ride some momentum from their impressive win in the Big Apple across the river, the Panthers will wrap up their road trip and a back-to-back with a matchup against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.