Rangers top Wild in OT, gain in East wild-card race

NEW YORK -- Vincent Trocheck scored 24 seconds into overtime when the New York Rangers defeated the Minnesota Wild 5-4 at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.

Trocheck circled around the net with the puck before passing to Artemi Panarin, who passed to Trocheck for a tip-in at the side of the net.

"Just trying to take it to the neutral zone to their forward side and I think 'Bread' had a bit of a switch and I thought I could beat my guy to the back of the post," Trocheck said. "… I don't know if he was passing or shooting but one way or another, it was a nice play."

Panarin had a goal and two assists, and Igor Shesterkin made 20 saves for New York (36-32-7), which tied the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the East but has played one more game.

"A win is a win at the end of the day," Rangers defenseman K'Andre Miller said. "We're doing anything we can to get those wins in our column right now, so points are points."

Marcus Johansson had a goal and two assists, and Brock Faber and Gustav Nyquist each had a goal and an assist for Minnesota (41-28-7), which has lost three straight (0-1-2) and five of six (1-3-2). Filip Gustavsson made 34 saves.

The Wild tied the idle St. Louis Blues for the first wild card in the West, seven points ahead of the Calgary Flames.

"All points are good," Johansson said. "You know, we need as many as we can get. I think it's very frustrating the way we're battling and big [penalty] kills at the end and all that, but still want the two points. So it's frustrating."

Marco Rossi tied the game 4-4 for Minnesota 22 seconds into the third period after a turnover by Miller in front went to Matt Boldy, who fed Rossi at the side of the net.

Nyqvist gave the Wild a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 9:00 of the first period. Mats Zuccarello passed to Johansson in the slot, who fed Nyqvist at the side of the goal for a tip-in.

"I feel like I've had my chances in previous games too but haven't been able to put the puck in the net so obviously that was nice to do tonight," Nyqvist said.

Braden Schneider tied the game 1-1 at 12:45 scoring from the left circle on a rebound of a shot by Urho Vaakanainen.

Faber gave the Wild a 2-1 lead at 15:00 with a shot that deflected off Rangers forward Gabe Perreault's stick and went past Shesterkin.

The Rangers trailed after the first period despite outshooting the Wild 18-7 and having a 28-19 advantage in shot attempts.

"Overall, we came out on the attack," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. "... We needed a win, and guys found a way to do that, so it was good to get a 'W' in a game that went up and down and kind of went back and forth."

Miller tied it 2-2 at 2:51 of the second period, after the puck bounced off the end boards to him in the left circle and his shot went over Gustavsson's right shoulder.

Chris Kreider gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead at 7:21 off a giveaway in front of the net by Wild defenseman Declan Chisholm.

"I feel like we, other than a few shifts, I felt like they had some O-zone time on us," Johansson said. "I think we played all right. We created enough to win. I feel like a couple of bad breaks on some of those goals, but what are you going to do?"

Johansson tied it 3-3 at 9:50 with a short-handed goal from the slot after a giveaway by Trocheck in the neutral zone.

Zuccarello appeared to give the Wild a 4-3 lead 11:45 of the second, but the call on the ice was no goal because of goalie interference on Wild forward Ryan Hartman.

"I'm not very happy with one point. I don't think anyone is, but mistakes happen in the game," Zuccarello said. "We reflect to it as a team. ... I mean, they had a lot of shots. But I think we created pretty good offensive game to balance it too."

Panarin scored on a breakaway for a 4-3 lead at 18:56.

"That was pretty fun," Panarin said. "Nice to get a win."

NOTES: Perreault, who signed with the Rangers on Monday and made his NHL debut, had three shots on goal in 13:38 of ice time. … J.T. Miller had an assist on K'Andre Miller's goal for his 700th NHL point. He has 257 goals and 443 in 864 games. … Panarin is two goals from 300. … Forward Will Cuylle won the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award, presented annually to the Rangers player who, as chosen by the fans, "goes above and beyond the call of duty." … Kreider scored his 20th goal for the 10th season, passing Jean Ratelle for the second-most in Rangers history behind Rod Gilbert (12).