Rangers 6, Panthers 1: Mats Zuccarello and Derick Brassard each scored twice and Henrik Lundqvist turned aside 34 shots as New York won its fourth straight home game and improved to 6-2-1 in its last nine contests.

Rick Nash collected a goal and two assists while Brad Richards scored and set up a tally for the Rangers, who remained three points behind the New York Islanders for seventh place in the Eastern Conference. The eighth-place Rangers stayed even in points with Winnipeg but have one game in hand.

Rookie Jonathan Huberdeau scored his NHL rookie-leading 14th goal and Scott Clemmensen finished with 24 saves for the league-worst Panthers, who have dropped four straight and five of six.

After failing to score on their previous 14 power plays, the Rangers converted on their first two opportunities against the league's worst penalty-killing team. Nash set up Brassard for a one-timer on the doorstep to open the scoring at 3:05 of the first period before his wrist shot from the right faceoff circle beat Clemmensen just over six minutes later for his team-leading 18th goal.

Huberdeau halved the deficit with 4:43 remaining in the period, deftly dragging the puck around Zuccarello before firing a wrist shot past Lundqvist. Zuccarello answered with a backhand shot with 3:26 left in the second before Richards' centering feed caromed off his left skate and into the net to ignite New York's three-goal surge in a 3:25 span late in the third that sealed the win.

GAME NOTEBOOK: D Alex Petrovic became the eighth player to make his NHL debut for the Panthers this season. He registered two shots in 18:30 of ice time. ... Brassard's first goal extended his point streak to four games. He had recorded an assist in each of the three previous contests. ... Huberdeau moved ahead of Montreal RW Brendan Gallagher (13 goals) for the lead among rookies.