Gaborik's goal lifts Rangers in OT

Marian Gaborik knew his once-high-flying trio had been dormant. "The last few games, our line has been quiet," he said Thursday night. "But as the game went on, we got better."

With the Rangers and Panthers in overtime at Madison Square Garden, Gaborik took a drop pass from Derek Stepan and let fly. "I was not hesitating this time," he said of only his third shot on goal of the game. "I just tried to wire it."

Gaborik's laser at 3:29 of overtime beat Panthers goalie Scott Clemmensen for his 23rd goal of the season and first point in four games as the Rangers defeated Florida, 3-2.

The victory -- the third in a row and eighth in the last nine games for the Rangers (25-9-4) -- seemed to delight former President Bill Clinton, who had a front-row seat.

The goal was a bit of redemption for Gaborik, as the Slovak sniper had the 300th assist of his career taken away by the official scorer when the second Rangers goal was changed from Brad Richards to Ryan Callahan.

The Rangers ended regulation with a 38-21 advantage in shots but could score only off deflections past Clemmensen. They moved to 3-1-0 against Florida and 12-3-2 at home, ending any sense that there would be a post-Winter Classic letdown before they face the Penguins Friday night in Pittsburgh.

Before the game, Rangers coach John Tortorella said he had a "major concern" about his team's energy level "after a pretty emotional weekend . . . I hope we're ready to play."

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Except for an eight-minute slump midway through the first period, they were.

"I thought we responded well," said Callahan, who was credited with a goal that went off his shin pad and gave the Rangers a short-lived 2-1 lead. Callahan and linemates Richards and Brandon Dubinsky also helped hold the Panthers' No. 1 line of Stephen Weiss, Kris Versteeg and Tomas Fleischmann to two shots on Martin Biron (8-2-0).

Marcel Goc opened the scoring with a top-shelf wrister at 4:16 of the first before the Rangers got their legs going.

The Brandon Prust-Mike Rupp-John Mitchell line created the best opportunities. But it was defenseman Anton Stralman's first goal as a Ranger, on a shot from the right side that deflected off Ed Jovanovski's skate and past Clemmensen at 17:44, that tied the score.

Stralman called his soft but accurate shot "a chocolate-chip muffin" and was surprised when it went in.

Said Biron, "It was kind of quiet on the ice and in the stands, and he scores and it shook everybody up a little bit."

After a scoreless second, Richards' shot hit Mike Weaver's glove, then Callahan at 4:24 of the third while the Panthers were killing an infraction for too many men on the ice. But just 36 seconds later, Mike Santorelli beat Biron short-side to knot the score at 2.

"He caught me cheating," said Biron, who made 19 saves. "If I was in position, it hits me in the shoulder."

Then Gaborik shouldered the burden.

"A lot of people were talking about me coming here and helping Gabby," Richards said. "Gabby has had many good seasons with whomever he's playing with. He's good enough to help other people, and that's what he's doing."