Rookie Adam Sykora scored for the second straight game, Igor Shesterkin made 27 saves and the host New York Rangers recorded a 3-1 victory over the Florida Panthers on Sunday afternoon.
The Rangers (30-35-9, 69 points) won their second straight following a season-high six-game skid, and did so after struggling to generate many chances in the opening 40 minutes.
Sykora broke the deadlock by getting through the slot and slightly past Florida’s Noah Gregor. As defenseman Adam Fox lifted a shot from the middle of the right circle, Sykora lifted his stick up just enough to deflect the puck into the net from in front of goalie Sergei Bobrovksy.
Playing in his third NHL career game since debuting Wednesday in Toronto, Sykora netted his first career game-winning goal. He scored New York’s third goal in its 6-1 rout of the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday by finishing off a 2-on-1 with Will Cuylle.
Conor Sheary scored on a shorthanded breakaway with 8:46 left in the third. Fox capped the scoring with a shorthanded empty-net tally with 3:54 left in the third.
Shesterkin nearly recorded his second shutout this season and stopped a four-game losing streak.
He highlighted the game with consecutive pad stops on Matthew Tkachuk with about 12 1/2 minutes left and used his glove to snatch an attempt from Vinnie Hinostroza during a Florida power play midway through the first.
Mackie Samoskevich scored in the final minutes as The Panthers (35-35-3, 73 points) fell to 2-6-0 in their past eight games.
Bobrovsky made 18 saves.
Mika Zibanejad nearly scored for New York during a power play with 95 seconds left in the second period but saw his shot from the right circle stop on the goal line. After the shot got by Bobrovsky, Gustav Forsling swept the puck away from the goal line.
The Panthers nearly took the lead 3:22 into the third when Tkachuk finished off a 2-on-1 with Carter Verhaeghe. The Rangers challenged for offsides and the goal was disallowed.
After Sykora’s goal, J.T. Miller stole the puck from Tkachuk at the blue line in the offensive zone and found Sheary. Sheary skated into the zone ahead of Florida defenseman Mike Benning and sent a shot from between the circles by Bobrovsky.
