Rangers top Kings on Adam Fox's shootout clincher

Adam Fox hadn’t taken a shootout shot in a long time, probably dating to his junior hockey days, he said.

But the Norris Trophy winner sure looked like a guy who knew what he was doing when he stepped up as the 12th shooter in the tiebreaker Monday night.

Fox went to his backhand and roofed the winning shot over Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick to give the Rangers a 3-2 comeback victory at Madison Square Garden.

"Well, I think he should be one of our top shooters,’’ coach Gerard Gallant said after the Blueshirts won for the fifth time in the last six games.

"He doesn’t love to do it a lot. But I think after tonight’s goal, he’s going to get a lot of confidence from it. He’s got skill, he’s got talent, he made [an] incredible move."

Fox said he had two moves he was considering. In the end, he went forehand-backhand and made it look easy.

"The one I did, I’m comfortable doing that,’’ he said. "And I didn’t want to overcomplicate anything, so I just made a little fake there and, you know, I’m just glad it worked out.’’

It worked out in large part because Igor Shesterkin stopped 34 shots in regulation and overtime to keep the Rangers in it before stopping four of six in the shootout.

It also worked out because Barclay Goodrow tipped in a shot by Artemi Panarin to tie the score at 2 with 5:45 left in regulation.

In the shootout, Panarin had to score in the third round and Alexis Lafreniere had to do the same in the fifth round to keep it going for the Rangers. After Shesterkin turned aside Arthur Kaliyev in the sixth round, Fox scored to win it.

The Kings’ Anze Kopitar scored in the third round and Quinton Byfield beat Shesterkin in the fifth round to put the pressure on Panarin and Lafreniere.

With the Rangers on the power play, Chris Kreider scored his career-high 30th goal with 1.5 seconds left in the first period to make it 1-0. It gave him the NHL lead in goals, one ahead of the Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin.

Blake Lizotte and Alex Iafallo, on a power play, scored in the second period for the Kings (21-17-5).

The Metropolitan Division-leading Rangers (28-11-4) are three points ahead of the Penguins, four ahead of the Hurricanes and five ahead of the Capitals.

The Rangers have played two more games than the Penguins and five more than the Hurricanes.

With Kaapo Kakko having gone on injured reserve with an upper-body injury — he’s "week-to-week,’’ Gallant said at the morning skate — and Filip Chytil (lower-body injury) also unavailable, Gallant had to come up with some different line combinations.

He started the game with Panarin playing right wing on the top line with Kreider and Mika Zibanejad, but midway through the second period, he put Panarin back with his regular center, Ryan Strome, and Goodrow at right wing.

He said he "had an idea’’ he might start with Panarin with Kreider and Zibanejad and switch it up during the game.

Said Gallant, "If it would have started off real good [with Panarin on the Kreider-Zibanejad line], then I probably would have left it alone.’’

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.