NEW YORK — Dan Boyle scored a deflected goal 8:10 into the third period, Rick Nash and Mats Zuccarello added insurance late, and the New York Rangers beat the pesky Florida Panthers 6-3 on Monday night.
Boyle flipped a shot from the left point that hit the stick of veteran Florida defenseman Willie Mitchell and bounded past surprised goalie Roberto Luongo. Zuccarello made it 5-3 with 4:02 left.
Carl Hagelin was stopped by Luongo on a penalty shot with 3:19 remaining to keep it a two-goal game, but Nash scored into an empty net at 18:07.
The Panthers held a 1-0 lead in the first and dug out of a 3-1 hole in the second, but fell to 1-6-1 in their past eight and are eight points out of the final spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Nash scored twice to move back into a tie for the NHL lead with 31 goals.
Kevin Hayes and Marc Staal also scored for the Rangers, who won their second straight behind Henrik Lundqvist’s 33 saves.
Aleksander Barkov, Dave Bolland and Brandon Pirri had Panthers goals. Brad Boyes added two assists, and Luongo made 32 saves.
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