Rangers win Game 3 in overtime, take 2-1 series lead

SUNRISE — After the Rangers and Panthers split the opening two games in New York, the Eastern Conference Final moved down to South Florida for Game 3. 

Alex Wennberg scored the overtime winner, leading the Rangers to a 5-4 victory — their second-consecutive OT win.

They lead the series 2-1, with Game 4 back in Sunrise on Tuesday.

The Panthers got off to a good start at home on Saturday, breaking open the game first. 

After getting a powerplay 75 seconds into the game,Sam Reinhart opened the scoring with his sixth goal of the postseason — giving the Panthers a 1-0 lead 2:50 into the game. 

Less than five minutes after Florida broke the ice, Alexis Lafreniere would tie the game after scoring his fifth of the playoffs on a breakaway. 

25 seconds after tying things up, Game 2 hero Barclay Goodrow, continued his goal streak, giving the Rangers their first lead of the game. 

In what was a game that saw three players score multiple goals, Reinhart would become the first to get his second. With 5:14 left in the period, Reinhart scored his seventh goal of the playoffs after his attempted pass banked off Rangers Jacob Trouba into the net. 

A four-goal opening frame saw the teams go to the first intermission tied.

After a tightly contested first, the Rangers took control of the game in the second period, scoring another pair of unanswered goals. 

Lafreniere put New York up 3-2 after burying his second highlight reel goal of the game with 4:37 left in the period.

Florida was awarded a four-minute power play after Trouba went to the box for a slashing and elbowing penalty. 

The Panthers power play, which already scored twice at that point, were caught sleeping on the man-advantage and the Rangers made them pay. 

While shorthanded, Goodrow scored his second goal of the game — extending the Rangers lead to 4-2 entering the third. 

Florida’s captain Aleksander Barkov kept his team afloat with a huge goal 5:04 into the third. Barkov redirected Carter Verhaeghe’s pass behind Shesterkin for his sixth goal of the playoffs. 

Verhaeghe, who started the game on a line with Lundell and Tkachuk, was moved with Barkov and Reinhart in the third after Panthers head coach Paul Maurice put the lines in a blender. 

Feeding off the momentum from their captain’s goal, the Panthers tied the game again after Gustav Forsling rifled a wrister top corner — making it 4-4 with 13:02 to play in regulation.

60 minutes wasn’t enough to find a winner on Friday night in New York — that would be the case for Game 3 in Sunrise.

Overtime was needed in Sunrise.

The Panthers dominated play in the third period and it continued into the overtime period. By the end of the night, they had 108 shot attempts to the Rangers 44.

But the in your face numbers advantage didn’t help the Panthers on Wednesday.

After playing on their heels to start overtime, the Rangers needed just one chance to escape with a win.

5:33 into overtime, Alex Wennberg deflected Ryan Lindgren’s point shot past Bobrovsky — giving the Rangers a 2-1 series lead on the road.

“Any time you lose a close one like that it’s obviously frustrating,” Sam Reinhart said. “You say we dominate but then you look at the mistakes that lead to their goals. There’s areas of improvement for sure.”

The Panthers will try to get this series back to even on Tuesday night at home, otherwise,  they will head to New York facing elimination at MSG.