Recap: Rangers Notch First Multi-Goal Comeback Win, Defeat Florida 5-3

With the playoff dreams officially gone, the focus is on the future. With Brennan Othmann and Gabe Perreault returning to the lineup, there would be a third Rangers youngster on the hunt for that first career NHL goal as Matthew Robertson made his long awaited NHL debut. 

In a season where the Rangers didn't have a single multi-goal comeback win, of course they managed to do so the first game after they were officially eliminated from the playoff race. With a good opportunity for the younger players to gain some experience, the Rangers played a more simple style of hockey that helped them secure a 5-3 win on the road.

1st Period:  

Matthew Robertson had a better opening shift than probably half this roster has had at any given point this season. J.T. Miller fed him with a great pass that allowed him to let a strong wrist shot go that nearly beat Sergei Bobrovsky. From that moment on, he was flying around the ice, all over the offensive zone at the top of the shift. 

Just a minute and a half in, the Panthers headed to the power play as K’Andre Miller took a bad penalty, cross checking Sam Reinhart in the face while trying to defend the rush. Reinhart would directly benefit from that as he fired a slap shot from the top of the circle that sailed right past Jonathan Quick to make it a 1-0 game. 

Seven minutes in, Adam Fox took a nasty hit from behind from Rasmus Asplund which drew a crowd from the rest of the players on the ice. This sent the Rangers to their first power play of the night but much like it has been for the majority of the season, ran rather ineffective for the full two minutes. 

Shortly after the team’s returned to even strength, Matt Rempe made a great play off the face-off as Jonny Brodzinski tied up the center and Rempe moved the puck to the point. The shot from Fox was stopped by Bobrovsky but Rempe was right there to put the rebound home to tie the game up 1-1. 

With about five minutes to go, Reinhart had a real good chance to pick up his second of the night as he caught Robertson flat footed to come in on an odd-man rush. Reinhart ripped one off the post in what became a good learning moment for the Rangers rookie defenseman. 

That about did it for the first, all in all a solid period for the Rangers despite giving up the power play goal early. Shots after twenty were 10-9 in favor of Florida but scoring chances were even at seven apiece. Interesting to note seeing as the Rangers did not have a shot on goal after the Rempe goal. 

2nd Period:

About a minute and a half in, Florida was assessed a delay of game penalty after a lengthy discussion between the officials. The puck had gone over the glass and while it wasn’t immediately called, it was at the fault of Gus Forsling. The Rangers top power play took to the ice but for the second time tonight, neither unit had anything to show for. 

Right after the teams returned to even strength, an offensive zone face-off win for Florida set up Forsling for a hard slap shot at the point. Carter Verhaeghe was right there to put the rebound home to make it a 2-1 game in Florida’s favor. 

Rempe continued to have a great game. His next best chance came on a chance where he out-skated Dmitri Kulikov for a partial breakaway but couldn’t get enough on it. On one of his next shifts, his line had another good shift in the offensive zone as a back-and-forth sequence for Kreider and Brodzinski nearly found Rempe at the doorstep but the pad of Bobrovsky was enough to disrupt the chance. 

With about six minutes to go in the period, a long shift in the Rangers end of the ice resulted in K’Andre Miller puck watching in the slot. This allowed for Reinhart to sneak right by him, catch a pass in the slot and fire a shot home for his second of the night to make it 3-1. 

Two minutes later, Miller helped make up for it as he fired a low wrist shot to the net which set up Jusso Pärssinen for a beautiful backhanded deflection to bring the Rangers back within one at 3-2. 

Just over a minute and a half later, a great outlet pass from Kreider found Mika Zibanejad cutting towards the blue line. Zibanejad would put himself in a good position to fake the shot and pass it over to J.T. Miller on the opposite side of Bobrovsky. With nothing but net to shoot at, Miller would tie the game up 3-3. 

Pretty similar outcome as the first. The Rangers didn’t start the period great but had a better effort as it went on as they headed to the second intermission tied again, this time 2-2. Shots on goal were 20-16 in favor of the Panthers with scoring chances at the same count. 

3rd Period:

About three minutes in, the Rangers headed to the penalty kill as Rempe clipped the leg of Tomas Nosek to get called for tripping. That ended up working in the Rangers favor as J.T. Miller picked up a bouncing puck in the offensive zone to find Vincent Trocheck for a one-timer to give the Rangers their first lead of the night. Trocheck’s 25th of the season in his 800th game of his NHL career. 

The Trocheck goal also came as the Rangers 17th shorthanded goal of the season.

From that point on, it became a.pretty low event period as time continued to wind down. With about four and a half to go, Gabe Perreault came close to his first NHL goal on two separate chances. The first, Zibanejad tried feeding him with a pass similar to the one he gave Miller. The second, he remained right by the doorstep but couldn't bury it.

On the following shift, another brilliant effort from Matt Rempe brought the puck hard to the net, beating two veteran defenders in the process. Kreider would end up with the puck as he chipped it back in front where Jonny Brodzinski had the final touch to make it a 5-3 game. Rempe would pick up an assist on the goal for a multi-point game.

That would do it for this one as the Rangers win their final road game of the 2024-25 season by a score of 5-3. A comeback win like that would have been a lot nicer a month or two ago but still, a nice win for the Rangers to begin wrapping things up and putting this disaster of a season behind them. They'll be back at it for the finale on home ice on Thursday as they host the Tampa Bay Lightning.