Jesper Boqvist scores twice, Panthers recover to top Rangers

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Jesper Boqvist scored twice, including the go-ahead goal with 8:22 remaining, for the Florida Panthers in a 5-3 win against the New York Rangers at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday.

After his initial shot was stopped on a drive to the net, Boqvist stuffed in the rebound of his brother Adam Boqvist's shot at the right post.

“Amazing. Dream come true,” said Jesper, who had a large number of family in town for the game. “We are both living the dream here and are having a lot of fun. We are super thankful to be here."

Eetu Luostarinen, Mackie Samoskevich and Aleksander Barkov also scored, and Uvis Balinskis had two assists for the Panthers (23-13-2), who had been shut out 4-0 in each of their previous two games. Sergei Bobrovsky made 33 saves.

“I thought our first eight minutes were real direct. I liked Jesper Boqvist’s play in going hard to the net, and Sergei Bobrovsky was outstanding,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “The Boqvist goals were really important because the Rangers are so desperate at this point and have lots of world-class players.”

Ryan Lindgren, Filip Chytil and Chris Kreider scored for the Rangers (16-19-1), who have lost four straight, seven of their past eight and 15 of their past 19. Igor Shesterkin made 21 saves.

“That’s where it’s at right now, we did enough to win the game, we did enough to lose the game,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said. “It is frustrating because you feel that you are doing more good than bad out there. At the end of the day, it’s not the showing on the scoreboard. That’s the business, it’s winning. Not good enough."

Luostarinen gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 3:04 of the first period, redirecting Gustav Forsling’s shot from the left point.

Samoskevich made it 2-0 at 5:21 when Dmitry Kulikov's wrist shot from the top of the left circle deflected in off him over the glove of Shesterkin.

Chytil pulled the Rangers to within 2-1 at 14:25 of the second period, skating into the rebound of Brett Berard's shot in the slot and sliding it five-hole on Bobrovsky.

Lindgren tied it 2-2 at 16:17. Adam Fox sent a shot-pass just inside the blue line to Lindgren, who redirected it past Bobrovsky's right pad as he was cutting through the slot.

Boqvist scored 38 seconds later to give the Panthers a 3-2 lead. He buried a rebound into an open net after Carter Verhaeghe poked free Anton Lundell's wraparound attempt, which was stopped by Shesterkin's left pad.

Kreider tied it again 3-3 at 5:19 of the third period, scoring with a one-timer from the left hash marks on the power play.

“There was good movement on the goal,” Laviolette said about the power play, which was 0-for-20 in the Rangers' previous seven games (two short-handed goals allowed). “There was good movement to spread them out. They are aggressive on the penalty kill. I thought the guys did a good job until they finally found Kreider open."

While trailing 4-3, New York pulled Shesterkin after Matthew Tkachuk was assessed a minor for delay of game at 17:10, but Florida killed off the penalty and then got an empty-net goal from Barkov at 19:23 for the 5-3 final.

“I thought Bobrovsky was great,” Maurice said. “Sergei made three or four incredible saves or we are having a different conversation. Can’t lose sight of that. The penalty kill, some strength kill, was really important.

“It’s a good way to end the year. We have had a spectacular and memorable year. It’s good our fans get to go home happier than the other fans. They get to enjoy that on the way out as well.”

NOTES: Forward Artemi Panarin had the primary assist on Kreider's goal, giving him 500 points (165 goals, 335 assists) in 384 games with the Rangers. He is the fastest player to reach the milestone in franchise history, surpassing Mark Messier, who got his 500th point in his 406th game with New York. ... Florida is 15-0-0 when leading after two periods this season. New York is 0-16-1 when trailing after two periods.