Rangers score 4 straight in win against Panthers

Alexis Lafreniere
, Kaapo Kakko and Filip Chytil each had a goal and an assist for the New York Rangers in a 4-3 win against the Florida Panthers at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida, on Saturday.

"Our line, we felt great today," Chytil said. "I think we're playing good, consistent the whole season. Sometimes there are games when we have so many chances and it doesn't go in, and today we scored three important goals. I'm very happy for all three of us."
Patrick Kane scored, and Jaroslav Halak made 31 saves for the Rangers (43-20-10), who have won eight of 10 (8-1-1).
New York remained four points behind the New Jersey Devils, who defeated the Ottawa Senators 5-3 on Saturday, for second in the Metropolitan Division.

Aleksander Barkov scored twice, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 38 saves for the Panthers (36-30-7), who have been outscored 16-8 during a three-game losing streak.
Florida fell three points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins, who defeated the Washington Capitals 4-3 on Saturday, for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
"There's no point of hanging our heads," Panthers forward Ryan Lomberg said. "We know what we're capable of. A tough pill to swallow, but we've got to swallow it and move on."

Barkov gave Florida a 1-0 lead at 9:15 of the first period when he jammed in a loose puck in the crease. New York challenged for offside, but a video review did not show conclusive evidence that Aaron Ekblad entered the offensive zone before the puck.
Lomberg made it 2-0 at 14:46, skating into a drop pass from Marc Staal in the left circle and scoring with a slap shot inside the far post.
Kakko cut it to 2-1 at 8:50 of the second period. He scored on a rebound after Bobrovsky made the initial save on a redirection by Chytil in front.
Lafreniere tied it 2-2 at 18:15, receiving a cross-ice pass from Jacob Trouba and getting around Lomberg before scoring short side with a backhand.
Kane gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead at 1:22 of the third period. After he intercepted a pass up the boards by Brandon Montour, Kane had his pass intended for Artemi Panarin deflect in off the stick of Carter Verhaeghe.
It was Kane's 450th NHL goal.
"You play long enough, sometimes you reach these milestones," Kane said. "Obviously, not the prettiest one, but I'll take it."

Chytil pushed it to 4-2 at 6:18, scoring blocker side from all alone in front after Ekblad whiffed on the puck just inside the blue line.
"When I see the puck bouncing behind the [defenseman], when I take it on my stick, I already knew what I'm going to do with that, and it worked," Chytil said. "Feels very good."
Barkov scored 42 seconds later to cut it to 4-3, swatting in the puck following a wraparound attempt by Verhaeghe.
"They took over," Barkov said. "Playing against good teams, they're going to have their momentum and stuff. They played well in the second period, and in the third period they defended well. They didn't give us that much. We played against a good team. They won the game today. Now we've just got to regroup and move on."

NOTES: Kane has 1,233 points (450 goals, 783 assists) in 1,173 NHL games, passing Phil Housley for second by a United States-born player in NHL history. Mike Modano is first with 1,374. Kane also has 20 goals this season, becoming the third United States-born player to reach the mark at least 15 times, joining Modano (16) and Keith Tkachuk (15). … Florida forward Matthew Tkachuk had his goal streak end at six games. … Barkov extended his point streak to 10 games (four goals, 12 assists), and Verhaeghe extended his point streak to eight games (four goals, seven assists). … Halak has won two straight after losing his previous four starts. … Bobrovsky lost two consecutive starts for the first time since Dec. 21-23.