Panarin gets assist in return, Kings cool off Rangers to gain in wild card

NEW YORK -- Artemi Panarin had an assist in his return to Madison Square Garden to help the Los Angeles Kings defeat the New York Rangers 4-1 on Monday.

Panarin was playing his first game at MSG since he was traded to the Kings by the Rangers on Feb. 4 for forward prospect Liam Greentree and a conditional third-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. He spent seven seasons with New York from 2019-26.

"To be honest, I was nervous the whole game," Panarin said. "I'm glad guys scored the goals tonight, and then got a good win so it was nice. I was not much thinking about hockey tonight."

Alex Laferriere had a goal and two assists, and Mikey Anderson had a goal and an assist for the Kings (28-24-15), who moved into a tie with the Seattle Kraken for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Darcy Kuemper made 21 saves, and Quinton Byfield had two assists.

"Obviously that's a big one for 'Bread,’" Byfield said. "You know, being a new member of our team and fitting in so well, super excited to have him, and we wanted to really do it for him in his homecoming. Obviously, you could just hear about all the cheers, how much they love him here and how much he meant to the city. It was a big win for us and a big win for Bread."

Vincent Trocheck scored for the Rangers (28-31-8), who had their season-high four-game winning streak end. Igor Shesterkin made 22 saves.

"We've played some good hockey leading up to this and a bad 30 minutes cost us," Rangers defenseman Adam Fox said.

Drew Doughty gave Los Angeles a 1-0 lead at 13:29 of the first period with a shot through traffic that beat Shesterkin. Panarin got the secondary assist on the play, passing the puck back to Anderson, who then found Doughty.

Panarin, who received a video tribute and ovation from the crowd during the first television timeout, had 607 points (205 goals, 402 assists), ninth in Rangers history, in 482 regular-season games. He led the Rangers in scoring in each of his six full seasons and led them before the trade with 57 points (19 goals, 38 assists) in 52 games.

"Emotional, especially warmup," Panarin said. "When the game started, that was better. ... Since I stepped on ice, and I saw all those (Panarin) jerseys. I felt good about that. It means for me a lot, I spent almost seven years here."

The Kings scored twice in a span of 28 seconds in the second period, when they outshot the Rangers 16-3.

"We played well in the first, played well in the third," Trocheck said. "You just have to play a full 60 minutes to win games in the NHL. … You just can't have letdowns like that in an entire period."

Anderson made it 2-0 at 4:31, scoring off a rebound at the side of the net following a Laferriere shot.

Laferriere then scored on the power play to give the Kings a 3-0 lead at 4:59 by batting the puck out of the air at the side of the net.

"Second period was really good. We pressed hard, we were physical. We made it really hard," Los Angeles coach D.J. Smith said. "… Just all-around a gutsy effort by the guys at the end of the trip."

Trocheck's power-play goal cut it to 3-1 at 2:29 of the third period, deflecting a shot by Fox.

The Kings were outshot 13-2 in the third period, but held on and ended their five-game road trip 3-1-1.

"That was big for us," Byfield said. "I feel like the last couple of games, you know, that we've lost, we've given up some leads. We've came back and given up leads, so just to be able to hold them off after they got a power-play goal was big for us and big for the confidence in the group."

Trevor Moore scored an empty-net goal with 1:48 left for the 4-1 final.

NOTES: Panarin also had two shots on goal in 15:42 of ice time. He has 12 goals and 19 points in 13 career games against the Rangers. … Kings forward Adrian Kempe took warmups but was scratched due to a lower-body injury. … Doughty scored his first regular-season goal against the Rangers in 27 games (he scored against them in the 2014 Stanley Cup Final). The Seattle Kraken are the only team he has yet to score against.