Rangers snag thrilling overtime win over Wild to earn two crucial points in wild-card race

The self-inflicted mistakes have been perpetual for the Rangers this season.

But a high compete level allowed the Blueshirts to snag a 5-4 win over the Wild behind Vincent Trocheck’s goal in overtime Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, effectively pushing the club into a points tie with the Canadiens and back on the cusp of the second wild-card spot.

The Rangers competed, answering almost every Wild goal they had to before Trocheck’s OT winner. Competitiveness is necessary and all, but it’s not going to make up for costly turnovers, ill-advised passes or defensive coverage mistakes.

There was an abundance of chances to take the lead at the end of regulation, including a 24-second five-on-three power play and the subsequent man-advantage stretch after. The Rangers couldn’t capitalize on another power play they earned with 4:08 left on the clock.

It was an up-and-down night for the Rangers as a whole, but especially for K’Andre Miller, whose turnovers have seemingly ended up in the back of the Rangers net more often than not this season. The 25-year-old defenseman was on for three goals against, but also scored one of his own to make it a 2-2 game early in the second period.

The Rangers took an overtime win over the Wild on Wednesday night.

The Rangers also lost their one-goal lead at the start of the third period, when Miller backhanded the puck into the middle of the zone for the Wild’s taking.

Miller did draw the last two penalties of regulation to put the Rangers on the power play, but they weren’t able to score.

Getting off to an energetic and fast start, the Rangers funnelled 11 shots on goal in comparison to the Wild’s one through the first eight minutes of the game. On Minnesota’s second shot of the period, however, Gustav Nyquist gave his team the first lead of the night while on the power play.

Artemi Panarin celebrates his goal with Brennan Othmann.

Miller’s stick broke before Trocheck flubbed a clearing attempt that had the rest of the Rangers penalty killers loaded on the left side of the zone in anticipation of a potential rush opportunity. That left Marcus Johansson all alone to feed Nyquist on the doorstep.

With Artemi Panarin leading the way with some strong puck-handling in the offensive zone, Braden Schneider then cashed in on a long rebound with zero hesitation to even the score at one-all.

Brock Faber’s long shot from the top of the right circle later took an unfortunate deflection off the stick of Gabe Perreault, which went right through Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin’s legs for the 2-1 lead.

The second period swung in the Rangers’ favor, with the home team scoring three times despite spending considerable time defending in their own zone. Miller got it started less than three minutes in, when he blasted one short side on Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson off a sharp angle to tie the game up again.

Igor Shesterkin makes a save on a shot by Minnesota Wild left winger Marcus Foligno in the second period.

The Rangers were able to take their first lead of the night after Declan Chisholm fumbled the puck in front of Minnesota’s net later in the middle frame. Chris Kreider was right there to backhand it in for his 20th goal of the season and first five-on-five score since Jan. 19.

Despite a prime opportunity to pad their lead on a power play drawn by Brennan Othmann, Trocheck held onto the puck for too long before Nyquist forced him into a neutral-zone turnover that sprung the Wild for a shorthanded rush the other way.

Chris Kreider scores a goal for the Rangers on Wednesday night.

Rangers center Mika Zibanejad tries to control the puck while being defended on Wednesday night.

Marcus Johansson buried the third equalizer of the game at the 9:50 mark.

A shift that lasted well over two minutes for Schneider (2:46) and Urho Vaakanainen (2:35), as well as a majority of Mika Zibanejad’s line (2:17), appeared to swing momentum in Minnesota’s favor.

That was until a breakaway opportunity presented itself to Panarin, who made it look easy as he chipped it past Gustavsson for the 4-3 lead.

The one-goal lead, however, only lasted 22 seconds into the third period. Miller’s backhander was intercepted by Marco Rossi, who fed Matt Boldy at the side of the Rangers goal before burying a rebound into a wide-open net.