NEW YORK -- It was as bad a start as the Florida Panthers could have imagined; but at the end of the night, they found a way to bank a crucial two points with an exciting 4-3 shootout victory over the New York Rangers Friday at Madison Square Garden.

Playing on a second consecutive night following a 2-1 loss to the Blue Jackets in Columbus, the Panthers (31-28-11) fell behind 2-0 just 4 minutes, 11 seconds into Friday's match.

However, a constructive timeout by head coach Tom Rowe, some sparkling work from goaltender James Reimer, and clutch scoring from Aleksander Barkov fueled Florida's impressive comeback.

"I'm real proud of them," Rowe said of his players. "There's a lot of guys in that room that know what is at stake and they are not going to go down easy, I can tell you that right now. We proved that tonight."

Though they have won just twice in their last eight games, the Panthers are five points out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with 12 games remaining on their schedule.

The Panthers were led by Reimer, who made a string of clutch saves. He stopped 29 of 32 shots through regulation and overtime, as well as all three shots he faced in the shootout.

Barkov scored a third-period goal for the Panthers, his 19th of the season, along with the only goal of the shootout.

"He was excellent the whole game long," Florida's Jaromir Jagr said of Reimer. "And (Barkov), I probably trust him more than I trust myself, and I trust myself a lot. He was great, too."

The tough-to-swallow defeat was another in a long line of disappointments on home ice for the Rangers (44-24-3), who have not won at MSG since Feb. 19, a span of six games.

"We try to figure out why we are so good on the road, and why it changes at home," said Rick Nash, whose Rangers are a league-best 25-9-0 on the road this season. "We are trying to bring that road game home."

Mats Zuccarello scored twice for New York, while goaltender Antti Raanta finished with 34 saves.

Raanta made a sparkling game-saving pad stop on a Jonathan Huberdeau break-in during the five-minute overtime period. However, he was beaten on a slick backhand shot in the second round of the shootout by Barkov.

"I didn't know what to do at first," Barkov said of his shootout attempt. "But when I got closer to the net I saw some space on the glove side and tried to put it in there. Just happy that it worked."

The Rangers scored twice on their first three shots of the game, but failed to turn that fast start into a runaway. Instead they watched the Panthers climb back into the contest, and forge a 2-2 tie after two periods of play.

Zuccarello finished off a pretty passing sequence with teammates Chris Kreider and Derek Stepan to put the Rangers up 1-0 just 2:34 into the game. Less than two minutes later, J.T. Miller leaked a left-wing shot through Reimer's pads for his 20th goal to make it 2-0 New York at 4:11.

Florida used its timeout at that point, but did not turn things around until after Reimer made an outstanding glove save to rob a wide-open Stepan at 8:44. From that point until well into the second period, the Panthers recorded 17 of the game's next 18 shots on goal.

"Our group came ready to play, had a great start, but we just didn't sustain it," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "We stopped moving our feet the way we can, stopped moving the puck the way we can; and for a good stretch there, (the Panthers) were the better team."

Huberdeau -- his sixth goal at 1:25 -- and Jussi Jokinen -- a power-play tally at 6:41 -- scored early in the second period as the Panthers tied the score; and it remained 2-2 after Reimer again stoned Stepan on a glorious scoring opportunity late in the period.

"(Reimer) was unbelievable," Rowe said. "There are a couple of those goals early on that he probably wants back, but he stuck with it, stuck it out, kept grinding away. He has so much character and is such a competitive guy."

Barkov provided Florida its first lead at 7:23 of the third, finishing a simply stunning feed from Jagr. Zuccarello answered for New York at 11:45 with his 14th goal of the season to tie the game, 3-3.

The Panthers are off on Saturday; and the Rangers head to Minnesota to face off with the Wild.

NOTES: Playing in his 1,699th game, Panthers RW Jaromir Jagr picked up two assists, giving him 1,907 career points. ... Rangers LW J.T. Miller reached 20 goals for the second straight season with his first-period tally. ... The Panthers scratched G Roberto Luongo (lower body), D Aaron Ekblad (upper body), C Denis Malgin (upper body), D Mackenzie Weegar, and D Michael Sgarbossa. ... The Rangers scratched G Henrik Lundqvist (hip), D Kevin Klein (back), LW Pavel Buchnevich, C Brandon Pirri, LW Matt Puempel, and D Adam Clendening.