Rangers edge Coyotes, 3-2

In Tempe, Artemi Panarin  had a goal and three points to lead the New York Rangers over the Coyotes, 3-2, on Sunday night.

“We were trying to find a way to win and grind this one out, and we did,” the Rangers’ Mika Zibanejad said.

The Rangers were on the back end of a 2-in-2 schedule. They defeated the Dallas Stars Saturday afternoon, 6-3.

Igor Shesterkin made 18 saves in the Rangers win.

“He looked great. Might do it again someday, you never know,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said s. “It’s never easy, the back-to-back games … but it was a good, solid game by everyone.”

Shesterkin is 5-0-2 on the season.

Arizona was never out of the game, and held a 2-1 lead.

Lawson Crouse and Nick Bjugstad were the Coyotes strikers.

After a scoreless first period, Panarin’s first assist of the night was to Alexis Lafreniere  who drove the slot and redirected the pass into the net for a 1-0 lead to New York.

“When you play with players like that, you just go to the net and things happen, and he found me,” Lafreniere said. “It was a great play by him.”

Arizona rallied with two goals in the period for a 2-1 lead.

“Ingram played unbelievable for us,” Bjugstad said. “We had our chances. We have to take the positives from it and keep growing as a team. That’s a really good team over there, but obviously we would have liked to have had this one.”

Panarin tied with a strong move down the right wing and rising shot for the goal.

“We’ve got some high-end players, and when we play well, they come through for us,” Gallant said. “What I liked about our game tonight was it was everybody, the third line, the fourth line, the so-called third pair defense. I thought they all played their role real well.”

The Rangers picked up a power play goal in the 13th minute of the third period when Zibanejad  wristed a redirected pass from Chris Kreider for the game-winner.

“It was a great play [by Panarin] to get it to ‘Kreids,’ and for me, I’m just trying to hit the net and get the puck to go in,” Zibanejad said.

The Rangers were 1-for-3 on the power play.

“To be honest, we were scared to death of their power play,” Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. “They have elite players and they make plays. You give them a chance, that power play will make things happen.”

Arizona scored on their one power play chance.

“Again, it was a tie game after two,” Lafreniere said. “`Shesty’ was really good, and we found a way to win.”

Connor Ingram made 36 saves in the Coyotes loss.

“[New York is] one of the best teams in the League, and we stuck around with them for 55 minutes,” Ingram said. “We didn’t get the result we wanted, but it’s a step forward, a step in the right direction, to show we can be competitive in this league.”