Panarin stars as Rangers rally past Canadiens 4-3

Artemi Panarin had a goal and three assists as the New York Rangers rallied to beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 on Saturday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal. New York erased a two-goal deficit with three goals early in the third period to pull ahead, and Jonathan Quick stopped 21 shots to secure the win.

Montreal opened the scoring when Juraj Slafkovsky and captain Nick Suzuki each scored in the first 3:42, but Mika Zibanejad cut the lead to 2-1 on a power-play goal with 8:04 left in the opening period. The Rangers then struck quickly in the third. J.T. Miller tied the game 34 seconds into the period, Matthew Robertson scored his first NHL goal to put New York ahead at 4:11, and Panarin extended the lead about a minute and a half later. Noah Dobson scored midway through the third for Montreal, but the Canadiens could not complete the comeback. Samuel Montembeault finished with 18 saves.

Montembeault acknowledged he bore responsibility for the late collapse. "I will take a lot of the blame," he said. "I need to be better. It's two games in a row I have a good two periods and then in the third it doesn't go as well." The goaltender said he struggled with a shot from Robertson...