Rangers rebound to beat Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. -- It didn't take the Rangers long to put that humbling loss to the Capitals on Wednesday night behind them.

Just 35 seconds.

That's how much time it took for the Rangers to score their first goal against the Florida Panthers en route to a dominating 4-1 victory Friday night at the BankAtlantic Center.

The most excitement in this contest came in the final 10 seconds, when a boxing/wrestling match broke out, a significant- enough brawl that the league likely will take a look at it.

During the fight, Florida's Tomas Kopecky dropped the Rangers' Michael Del Zotto with a punch from behind.

"It was a sucker punch," Rangers coach John Tortorella said. "Something with no honor. That's bad. You don't sucker punch a guy."

The word "sucker punch" was used repeatedly in the Rangers' locker room in reference to the fight.

"Fight? what fight?" the Rangers' Brad Richards asked. "It was a sucker punch."

The 4-1 loss to the Caps was motivation for the Rangers Friday night. "Yes, we wanted to answer that loss," Tortorella said.

They did -- convincingly.

Carl Hagelin provided that quick opening goal, in a manner of speaking. Ryan Callahan took a shot that hit Hagelin and beat Panthers goalie Scott Clemmensen.

That was the beginning of an opening-period onslaught that left the Panthers and Clemmensen reeling as the Rangers took a 3-0 lead.

The second goal of the period came when Richards, off an assist from Jeff Woywitka, pushed a shot past Clemmensen into the left side of the net 5:10 into the contest. With 4:23 left in the first, Del Zotto scored when his shot hit the skate of Florida's Matt Bradley and ricocheted past Clemmensen. Richards was given the assist and Clemmensen was given the hook, replaced by Jose Theodore.

Brandon Dubinsky scored at 7:41 of the second period for a 4-0 lead.

Meanwhile, Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist was doing his usual thing -- maybe even better than his usual thing. It's not easy to lower a goals-against average of 1.95, but Lundqvist certainly was trying, repelling nearly everything the Panthers fired at him. He made 27 saves.

"Our goaltending has just been great," Tortorella said in general and about Lundqvist in particular.

The convincing victory put the Rangers (23-9-4) back into sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Division with 50 points as Philadelphia (48) and Pittsburgh (46) were idle Friday. The Rangers, who also lead the Eastern Conference, have won six of their past seven games.

The triumph served as a strong tuneup for the Rangers' Winter Classic game on Monday in Philadelphia against the Flyers at Citizens Bank Park. Tortorella had his own thoughts on that much-ballyhooed game.

"I'm not interested with the hoopla of the game," he said. "That's Philadelphia we're playing and that's two important points for us."