Rangers beat Stars in overtime on Vladislav Gavrikov's goal after Will Cuylle ties it late in third period

Life without Adam Fox is going to be challenging, and the Rangers are going to need people to step up.

Vladislav Gavrikov stepped up big time on Tuesday.

The 30-year-old Russian, Fox’s regular partner on defense, backhanded the rebound of Artemi Panarin’s shot to beat the high-flying Dallas Stars in overtime, 3-2, at the Garden in their first game without Fox (upper body), who is on long-term injured reserve.

“That was Mika [Zibanejad] and ‘Bread’ [Panarin],’’ Gavrikov said when asked about his winning goal. “They made a great moves, and then I saw, just the opportunity to drop in front of ‘Bread,’ and create a little confusion, so he got a shot. Obviously, I thought he’s going to score, but we had a rebound.’’

The goal gave the Rangers their fourth victory in the last five games, but it was just their third at home (3-8-1) this season. And it came after what had been one of their worst performances of the season in Saturday’s 4-1 loss at home to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“It’s good to get that, especially on home ice, and for our fans, after a poor performance on Saturday,’’ said Will Cuylle, whose goal with 2:13 left and goaltender Igor Shesterkin (24 saves) pulled for the extra skater, tied it 2-2 and forced the overtime. “I think it showed some resilience in here, just bouncing back and being able to reset [after Saturday’s loss].

“Being proud of the way we played in front of our fans is really important to all of us, so I’m glad we could put another good effort today and get the win.’’

With Fox out until at least Christmas, the Rangers were faced with a tall task in the Stars, who entered the game with the second-best record in the league. But they hung in there all night, playing them evenly for the first two periods — the score was 1-1 and the shots on goal were 22-21, Dallas — before dominating play for most of the third period.

Aided by a four-minute power play when Dallas’ Sam Steel was given a double-minor high-sticking penalty for cutting Alexis Lafreniere, the Rangers outshot the Stars 18-4, yet they trailed 2-1 after Mikko Rantanen finished a two-on-one pass from Wyatt Johnston at 9:32.

But the Rangers never hung their heads. They kept pressing until Cuylle finally tied it with the Rangers’ second six-on-five goal of the season. Then Gavrikov, known primarily as a defensive defenseman, won it in overtime with his fifth goal of the season — the most of any Rangers defenseman.

“I don’t know that we thought, 20-something games in, he’d have five goals,’’ Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said when asked if he was surprised at Gavrikov’s offensive contributions so far. “Obviously, his core competency is his ability to defend. He’s hard to play against. He’s one of the better defending defensemen, we think, in the league. Having said that, we believe he has the ability to help our offense, whether it be with outlet passes or joining the rush or being active off the offensive blue line.

“I won’t lie, I’m surprised with how effective he’s been.’’

But Shesterkin, who played against Gavrikov growing up in Russia, wasn’t. “I always knew he was an amazing defenseman,’’ Shesterkin said. “He can play offensive too. We played against each other when we growing up, [and] he scored on me a lot.’’

The Rangers are going to need Gavrikov to do more offensively while Fox is out. His five goals this season match the total he had last year when he played for the L.A. Kings, but he is ready to step up his offensive game when the team needs it.

“It’s going to be probably on all of us I would say,’’ he said. “Every single one of the ‘D’ has going to make a step in the game. Foxy’s big for our team, playing big minutes offensively, [and] on the power play. So it’s hard to replace him, obviously. But we’ve got to try, and the responsibility lies with all of us.’’

Braden Schneider took Fox’s spot next to Gavrikov on the first defense pair at five-on-five. On the power play, Panarin took Fox’s spot at the point, giving the Rangers a five-forward first power-play unit. The power play went 0-for-5, but moved the puck around and created several chances and shots on goal on the four-minute opportunity in the third.

“I thought they got they got better as the game went on,’’ Sullivan said of the power play.

Notes & quotes: Fourth-line forward Adam Edstrom sat out with a lower-body injury. Conor Sheary took his place in the lineup.

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.