Rangers rally from early 3-0 deficit to beat Canadiens in overtime on J.T. Miller's goal

Coming off an absolute stinker in Chicago in their last game, the Rangers were bound and determined to be better than that Saturday night against the Montreal Canadiens at Madison Square Garden.

But after they dominated the first half of the first period, things went haywire for a few minutes. Suddenly they were down by three goals.

But they never believed they were out of it.

“We thought we played well, even at the beginning, even though they scored,’’ defenseman Will Borgen said. “So yeah, we were confident we could still hang around in this game.’’

And they did. Noah Laba scored a power-play goal and Artemi Panarin scored on a penalty shot before the period was over to start the comeback, and two goals by J.T. Miller — the second at 2:56 of overtime on a power play — ended it, giving the Rangers a satisfying 5-4 win in the opener of a three-game homestand.

With Jake Evans in the penalty box for slashing Panarin, Miller blasted in a one-timer from the right circle off a pass from Mika Zibanejad, giving the Rangers (16-13-4) their sixth win in the last 10 games (6-2-2).

“When you think about how the game played out, we felt like we’re playing pretty well,’’ coach Mike Sullivan said. “We’re down 3-0, we climb back into it. Make it 3-2. They go up and make it 4-2 at the beginning of the second period, and we just stayed with it. We just kept digging in. And I think that’s a credit to the players . . . just to fight through some of the adversity.

“There was a lot of hockey left, and that’s what we’re talking about on the bench. That’s what we talked about in between periods. Let’s just, you know, let’s not get overwhelmed here. Let’s just keep playing.’’

Josh Anderson’s one-timer from the high slot gave Montreal a 4-2 lead at 3:17 of the second period, but the Rangers stunned the Canadiens with two funky goals 35 seconds apart to tie it at 4-4.

Will Cuylle, who had an eventful game, scored from behind the goal line when he threw the puck in front and it hit rookie goalie Jacob Fowler’s stick and caromed in at 7:22. Then, on the ensuing shift, Fowler gave up a tough rebound on Matthew Robertson’s shot, putting it into the slot. Miller corralled it and scored on a backhand shot at 7:57.

The first period started with the Rangers peppering Fowler (23 saves) — playing his second NHL game — with the first five shots of the contest.

But Montreal scored on its first two shots, a redirect by Zachary Bolduc at 12:41 of the first period and a left-point shot through traffic by tough-guy defenseman Arber Xhekaj at 14:10 for a 2-0 lead. They made it 3-0 on a goal by Evans at 16:18.

But a penalty to Lane Hutson for interfering with Cuylle opened the door for the Rangers. They sent out their new-look five-forward first power-play unit, with Zibanejad at the point, but it was the second unit that got them on the board. Laba jammed in a pass from Cuylle on the second whack at 18:49 for his fifth goal of the season.

The Rangers nearly conceded a shorthanded goal just before that when the Montreal defense cleared a puck over point man Vladislav Gavrikov and Evans went in on a breakaway. But Gavrikov chased Evans from behind and was able to knock the puck off his stick.

Then, with 51.8 seconds left in the period, Panarin was awarded a penalty shot when he was grabbed from behind by Noah Dobson. Panarin went wide left, swooped in and shot the puck past Fowler’s blocker, off the post and in for his 11th goal of the season.

It was the Rangers’ first successful penalty shot since Dan Boyle scored against Vancouver and goalie Ryan Miller on Dec. 9, 2015. They had failed on 11 straight penalty shots, the last being Zibanejad’s miss against the Flyers last April.

Notes & quotes: The Rangers’ power play went 2-for-2 to snap an 0-for-12 skid since Adam Fox was sidelined.

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.