Surging Rangers celebrate ‘outrageous’ comeback OT win in Stadium Series

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Chris Kreider's initial reaction said it all about what he and the New York Rangers just went through.

"That was an outrageous hockey game," Kreider said.

The Rangers came back from two goals down in the final five minutes of the third period to force overtime with Kreider and Mika Zibanejad doing the scoring.

They won it 10 seconds into overtime on Artemi Panarin's steal and goal.

They did it in front of 79,690 people, a crowd largely filled with their fans who made MetLife Stadium, all decked out for the 2024 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series on Sunday, shake as the goal song played and the horn blared.

Rangers 6, New York Islanders 5.

"Everything came into one perfect flurry of conditions," Panarin said. "The atmosphere was unparalleled. The support we got from our fans was exactly what we needed to secure that win."

This was a win that goes beyond the atmosphere, the elements, the noise, the theatrics, and the fact that the NHL's 41st outdoor game was seen by the third largest crowd in NHL history.

This win was about confidence and resiliency, which the Rangers have, and the Rangers are.

"I think that you gain confidence when things are going well," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. "You feel like you can do anything. So when you're down by a couple goals with six minutes to go you still feel like you can do something. I think our guys believed that."

That belief was built before the Rangers arrived at MetLife Stadium on FDNY fire trucks and behind vintage NYPD blue cop cars walking with officers from both departments and wearing their jerseys.

That belief that Laviolette spoke about was built in the past three weeks on a six-game winning streak that the Rangers carried into the Stadium Series.

"That definitely played a bit of a role and that gave us quite a bit of confidence," Panarin said.

So, the Rangers didn't panic when they had a first period to forget, going down 3-1 before Laviolette used their timeout "to stop the game" after Mathew Barzal scored at 7:34, the Islanders' third goal in a span of 3:14.

"We really don't quit in that game and there were a lot of times where we easily could have just laid down," defenseman Adam Fox said.

They felt the pressure but didn't succumb to it when Anders Lee made it 4-1 Islanders at 1:03 of the second period.

The Rangers' power play, 1-for-21 in the previous eight games, struck for the first of three goals at 5:36, Vincent Trocheck scoring his first of the period with a deflection of Panarin's shot to make it 4-2.

"I thought the second goal was a really important goal just to fight back," Laviolette said. "I thought our guys just stuck with it. Confidence goes into that a little bit."

Trocheck scored again off a rebound from the side of the net at 18:24 to send the Rangers into the second intermission down 4-3.

But the Islanders weren't about to let momentum carry into the third. They scored 1:53 in, a goal from Alexander Romanov to make it 5-3.

"The great part of our group is there really aren't that many emotional swings," captain Jacob Trouba said. "We got down and just wanted to keep playing, keep fighting and keep grinding away at it."

The Islanders helped with their penalties late in the game, but that feeling the Rangers were carrying with them from a six-game winning streak carried them to the finish.

Barzal hooked K'Andre Miller at 14:16 of the third period, setting up a 4-on-3 power play because Trocheck and Romanov were already in the box for roughing.

Laviolette pulled goalie Igor Shesterkin, a risky move with more than five minutes left, but it gave the Rangers a 5-on-3 opportunity.

Fox made a play at the blue line to knock down an Islanders clearing attempt that was ticketed for the empty net. The puck stayed in.

"Very happy to get a full stick on that," Fox said.

Trocheck and Romanov came out of the box, and Kreider scored the first 6-on-4 goal on a deflection at 15:52, making it 5-4.

Scott Mayfield went to the box for tripping Alexis Lafreniere 100 seconds later. Laviolette again pulled Shesterkin and this time it was Zibanejad, from the bottom of the left face-off circle, ripping a one-timer into the top right corner to make it 5-5 at 18:31.

And then Panarin stole the puck from Noah Dobson and watched it slowly trickle in as the net was already knocked loose by Dobson as he fell in front in an attempt to block the shot.

The Rangers poured onto the ice. MetLife Stadium went nuts. The referees conferenced.

"I'm 80 percent sure that the puck crossed the line," Panarin said, "and it definitely was a goal."

It was. The stadium shook.

"Deafening," Kreider said.

Outrageous.

"I had to hold back tears just because it was that much of a spectacle," Panarin said.