The Rangers rallied twice to force overtime and ultimately a shootout against the Wild on Tuesday night, and they made it count. 

Kaapo Kakko and Artemi Panarin scored in the shootout to secure a 4-3 win and two points for the Rangers, who came back from a two-goal deficit in the first and a one-goal margin early in the third to reignite their resilient DNA. 

After the Rangers scored twice in a dominant second period, Igor Shesterkin gave up a soft goal to former Blueshirt Mats Zuccarello early in the third that the Rangers star goalie surely wants back. Every time the Rangers needed a game-tying goal, however, they were able to deliver. 

Adam Fox’s slick move around Wild goalie Marc Andre Fleury slipped the puck into the crease, where Filip Chytil swooped in and poked it home to even the score at three-all with just under 6 ½ minutes left in regulation. 

Shesterkin is usually the player giving the Rangers a chance to win, but the goalie’s rare off-night nearly cost his team two points Tuesday. Two of the three goals the Rangers relinquished to the Wild, who had a fully healthy lineup for the first time this season, Shesterkin stops nine times out of 10 most nights this season, and probably 10 times out of 10 last season. 

But the 26-year-old netminder was solid in the shootout, stopping Kirill Kaprizov and Frederick Gaudreau. 

The Rangers, whose lines were jumbled early after losing Julien Gauthier to an upper-body injury and then Chris Kreider later in the game, only had to maintain their level of play from the first period to dig themselves out of a 2-0 hole — and that’s exactly what they did. In addition to outshooting the Wild 20-10 in the middle frame, the Blueshirts patiently stood by as the visitors committed an abundance of turnovers that often turned into odd-man rushes. 

K’Andre Miller may have already scored the Rangers’ best goal of the year in Philadelphia on Dec. 17, when the 22-year-old defenseman converted on a breakaway on which he went from his knees to skates all while maintaining possession of the puck. The one he scored Tuesday night is probably a close No. 2. 

After Jimmy Vesey knocked the puck away from Matt Boldy just below the blue line, Miller bodied the Wild winger out of the way and then had to fend off fellow defenseman Jon Merrill’s stick before he buried the puck stick side on Fleury. 

The goal represented Miller’s career-high 21st point and cut the Wild’s lead in half less than three minutes into the second period. 

When Bradon Duhaime was called for tripping Alexis Lafreniere and Lafreniere was called for embellishment, the Rangers tied the game at two-all during four-on-four play. Fox held on to the puck on a two-on-one rush and extended his point streak to five games. 

The first period was like many others we’ve seen from the Rangers this season. Despite two power plays, plenty of quality shots and relatively even play, the Rangers still found themselves trailing 2-0 heading into the first intermission. 

Three posts, in addition to a couple big saves from Fleury, kept the Rangers off the board in the opening 20 minutes. The Wild, on the other hand, seemed to capitalize on each opportunity that presented itself. 

After Merrill’s shot beat a screened Shesterkin, Kaprizov sniped his 24th goal of the season right over the left shoulder of the Rangers netminder to double Minnesota’s lead to 2-0 later in the first.