On a night, they honored Pride at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers were battling the Panthers for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

After grabbing a 1-0 lead on a rare power-play goal by rookie Will Cuylle, the Rangers fell behind the Panthers in the second period. Sam Reinhart connected for his 25th power-play goal on a great play by Aleksander Barkov.

The goal came with Matt Rempe in the penalty box for an iffy tripping minor on Eetu Luostarinen. He didn’t stick out his leg. But he got called. The Panthers tied the game.

Reinhart would score his second of the period over two minutes later to put the Panthers ahead.

When it looked like the Panthers were in control, Anton Lundell high-sticked Braden Schneider, drawing blood for a double minor. The Rangers evened the score on a Chris Kreider power-play goal on a follow-up of a Vincent Trocheck shot to beat Sergei Bobrovsky.

Afterward, Rempe was finally back out for a shift with Jonny Brodzinski and Adam Edstrom. Having been effective earlier in the game by forechecking and creating a couple of chances, the fourth line did a good job.

Rempe dumped the puck in deep. He then came in and delivered a big, clean hit on Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling. The Garden crowd erupted with cheers. They then chanted, “Rem-pe, Rem-pe!!!”

It’s officially a love affair with Rempe at MSG. They love the 21-year-old kid who plays with an edge. He knows where to go when the Rangers are setting up for a shot. He gave Bobrovsky problems by standing directly in front of a couple of attempts.

The Rangers and Panthers remained tied until Ryan Lomberg scored with less than 14 minutes left in the third period. Florida added an empty netter to hand the Rangers a 4-2 defeat.