NEW YORK, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Kristian Huselius scored two third period goals Wednesday night to lead the Florida Panthers to a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers.
Huselius, 22, scored the go-ahead goal on the power play at 13:35 of the final period. Huselius fired a slap shot from the right faceoff circle that tipped off defenseman Brian Leetch's stick and over the glove of goaltender Mike Richter.
He picked up his second of the night just under three minutes later. Huselius intercepted the puck from defenseman Igor Ulanov and circled the crease to pull out Richter before flicking the puck into an open net.
With his two goals, Huselius moved into the rookie lead and extended his points streak to five games, a club rookie record. Former Panther and current Ranger Radek Dvorak held the previous mark with four during the 1995-96 season.
Roberto Luongo finished with 31 saves to improve to 3-4-1.
Prior to Huselius' two goals, Luongo made a key save early in the third period to preserve the tie. Dvorak broke to the net and fired a point-blank shot from the right side of the crease. Luongo made a pad save and followed up by denying Mark Messier with a glove save on the rebound.
The Panthers, who got off to a dismal 1-6-1-1 start, are 2-1-1 in their last four games.
Pavel Bure gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead with 2:27 remaining in the first period. Richter turned over the puck in his own end and Bill Lindsay sent a pass from the left corner to Bure, who skated toward the crease. The puck bounced off Bure's stick and knee and between Richter's pads.
The Rangers tied the game nine minutes into the second period when Andreas Johansson skated past Luongo and deflected defenseman Vladimir Malakhov's wrist shot from the point past the goalie.
Petr Nedved, who took a puck to the head early in the game, left midway through the second period after colliding with teammate Eric Lindros.
The Rangers saw their two-game winning streak snapped and lost for the fourth time in six games.
