Artemi Panarin poised to redeem himself after last year’s playoff nightmare

Last year is a neon sign that has never stopped flashing, just like those lights from the fast-food chicken place across the street. One victory after another hasn’t dimmed the wattage. 

There are fears that it will happen again, fears that this team that has gone 30 years since its one-and-only Cup since 1940, will disappoint again the way the Emile Francis teams did in the early ’70’s, the way King Henrik Lundqvist’s Court fell shy last decade, the way the club disintegrated last spring. 

A spectacular regular season has raised the stakes. No team in franchise history has won as many games as this club that annexed its 54th victory with a thrilling 3-2 shootout victory over the Islanders at the Garden on Saturday afternoon that decreased the Magic Number for clinching first seed in the East to two points. The Blueshirts can clinch it by defeating the Senators at home Monday in the regular-season finale. 

If last year is a flashing neon sign, it has not blinded Artemi Panarin. Indeed, it seems to have drawn No. 10 into its orbit. From the moment last season ended in infamy, Panarin has been on a mission, if not to redeem himself, to be his best. No fuss, no muss, Panarin has attacked this season regardless of the length of his hair. 

There was a cavalcade of Panarin in this one, good, bad, ugly, sensational, emotional. There was the 2-2 tying goal from the left circle at 15:43 of the third period off a designed play when Vincent Trocheck went back with the puck that became the Rangers’ first goal at five-on-five since the one at 16:56 of the third period three games ago. There was the shootout goal in the leadoff position after which Panarin pumped his fist repeatedly. 

In the interim, the Rangers had scored three power-play goals and one shorthanded goal in losing to the Islanders on Tuesday, losing to the Flyers on Thursday and trailing the Islanders in this one. It seemed to release bottled-up frustration for No. 10 and his teammates.