Alex Wennberg scores rare goal in overtime to give Rangers thrilling Game 3 win over Panthers

Despite the fact that the Rangers were up 4-2 at the start of the third period, it never felt like the Panthers were out of it — and they weren’t.

Florida made it a 4-3 game on a goal from Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov just over five minutes into the final frame, after they went scoreless in the second period while the Rangers put together a two-goal effort.

As the Amerant Bank Arena crowd — which had patches of Rangers fans spread throughout — fed off their team’s push, the Panthers just kept coming and gaining momentum while swarming the offensive zone.

Gustav Forsling found a clear lane in front of him and whipped it far side over Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin’s glove to even the score at four-all with 13:02 left in regulation.

Knotted at two-all to start the second period, the Panthers continued to do what they’ve done all series long.

It seems like whenever a Rangers skater is waiting for the puck to come to him instead of going to meet it, chances are a Panthers player will step in front to get to it first. And as Florida racked up power-play opportunity after power-play opportunity, having scored on two of them in the first period, the Rangers struggled with both of their man-advantage chances.

The Panthers’ penalty kill has been so aggressive, forcing the Rangers to the perimeter and refusing to let them set up and get comfortable the way they like to. So it came down to five-on-five play, which the Rangers actually got the better of in this one.

Skating down the left boards, Alexis Lafreniere skated right at Dmitry Kulikov and toe-dragged around the Panthers’ defenseman before backhanded the puck past Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky for the 3-2 lead at the 15:23 mark of the middle frame.

On a Panthers’ four-minute power play, stemming from back-to-back penalties from Rangers captain Jacob Trouba, Goodrow netted his second of the game by one-timing a feed from Vincent Trocheck while shorthanded for the 4-2 lead with 1:44 left in the second period.

The Rangers had arguably their best first period of the series, both in terms of withstanding the Panthers’ pushes and generating some of their own. It resulted in a 2-2 game by the first intermission.

Sam Reinhart scored both the Panthers’ goals on the power play as the home team was awarded the first three man-advantage opportunities of the game, while the Rangers received none.

After Florida went up 1-0, Vincent Trocheck set up Lafreniere on a breakaway before Lafrieniere tied the game at one-all on a slick backhand shot that’s becoming a speciality of the 2020 first-overall pick.

Just 25 seconds later, Goodrow tipped in a Braden Schneider shot for the 2-1 lead and his fifth goal of the postseason, officially surpassing his regular-season total of four.