Vincent Trocheck capped a back-and-forth game by scoring 24 seconds into overtime Wednesday night for the host New York Rangers, who moved into a tie for the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot by edging the Minnesota Wild 5-4.
After the teams combined to collect four game-tying goals in regulation, the Rangers ended overtime quickly after JT Miller won the overtime faceoff with Marco Rossi and immediately headed off the ice in favor of Trocheck. The center then made up for a pair of costly miscues in regulation by skating to the crease and getting a stick on Artemi Panarin’s shot before the puck trickled into the net beyond Filip Gustavsson.
Panarin, Braden Schneider, K’Andre Miller and Chris Kreider had a goal apiece for the Rangers (36-32-7, 79 points), who are tied with the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild-card berth. Montreal has a game in hand.
Goalie Igor Shesterkin made 20 saves.
Rossi, Gustav Nyquist, Brock Faber and Marcus Johansson scored for the Wild (41-28-7, 89 points), who lost their third straight (0-2-1) but still climbed into a tie with the idle St. Louis Blues for the Western Conference first wild-card spot.
Gustavsson recorded 34 saves.
A turnover by Trocheck led to Nyquist’s power-play goal nine minutes into the first. Schneider tied the score 3:45 later, when he buried the rebound of a shot by Urho Vaakanainen into the wide-open left corner of the net.
Faber gave the Wild the lead again with five minutes left when his shot from the top of the slot sailed past Shesterkin as he was screened by Minnesota right winger Mats Zuccarello.
K’Andre Miller and Kreider combined to give the Rangers their first lead by scoring twice in a span of fewer than five minutes early in the second. Miller’s angled shot went over Gustavsson’s shoulder at the 2:51 mark before Wild defenseman Declan Chisholm mishandled the puck in the crease leading to Kreider’s backhand over Gustavsson’s glove-side blocker with 12:39 remaining.
Johansson tied the score in short-handed fashion just 2:29 later, when he scored from the middle of the slot following another turnover by Trocheck. Rossi’s turnover in the neutral zone led to Panarin’s unassisted breakaway with 1:04 left, but Rossi made amends 22 seconds into the third, when he nudged a shot off Shesterkin’s blocker after K’Andre Miller’s turnover.
–Field Level Media
