For once at least, the Rangers proved that they could win on home ice. They showed a lot of character in rallying from a two-goal deficit to come back and defeat the Flyers 5-4 in a shootout at Madison Square Garden.

After losing back-to-back games earlier in the week at MSG, they dug really deep to earn an important win over the bitter rival Flyers. In doing so, they gained a valuable point in the division to inch closer to the wild card race. They’re up to 40 points in 37 games, which is one behind Philadelphia, who have played three less games.

Regardless, it was big for the Rangers to follow up a 2-1 overtime triumph over St. Louis on Thursday with a second consecutive win. They need to start banking points to give themselves a chance of staying in the playoff race.

They overcame a subpar performance from Igor Shesterkin, who allowed three consecutive goals over a 3:42 span to put them down 3-1 during a dismal second period. After getting a late goal in the first period from Artemi Panarin to grab the lead, the Rangers were undisciplined during the second. Bad penalties and poor special teams led to the Flyers getting all four of their goals in the period.

It started with Will Cuylle being sent off for interference on Matvei Michkov. With Cuylle in the box, Michkov and Flyers rookie Denver Barkley combined on a Travis Sanheim power-play goal that tied the game at 6:42. The defenseman had his long shot beat Shesterkin clean on the blocker side.

Before you looked up, Owen Tippett then used a similar shot by going high blocker only 23 seconds later to give the Flyers the lead. He’s a better shooter than Sanheim, but it was clear what area they were targeting.

With Panarin just off for a slash on Barkley, who recorded two assists in his first career NHL game, it took the Flyers all of three seconds to make it three in a row. This time, leading scorer Trevor Zegras had his one-timer go right past the blocker of Shesterkin to suddenly put the Rangers behind by two.

They got a reprieve when Panarin took advantage of a turnover and scored unassisted for his second of the game. He wired a shot inside the far goalpost by Samuel Ersson.

But with the Rangers on a power play trailing by one, a careless Scott Morrow turnover led to Rodrigo Abols converting a three-on-one for a shorthanded goal that restored the two-goal lead for the Flyers.

At that point, Mike Sullivan called a timeout to regroup his team, which looked out of sorts. Was it going to be another one of those bad losses at home? It sure felt like it. During the stoppage, Sullivan had some strong words for his players.

Already having seen Brennan Othmann stand up to Nicolas Deslauriers for a hit from behind, they responded well to the timeout. Even with Othmann taking a beating from one of the game’s toughest enforcers, it showed some heart. He didn’t play much, but Othmann earned some kudos from his teammates.

They first had to kill off a Noah Laba penalty to hang around. Earlier in the period, Laba was interfered with by Emil Andrae, who wasn’t called for it. That led to Cuylle taking the only penalty, which resulted in Sanheim tying the score.

Unlike when Shesterkin failed to pick up Cuylle, the Rangers got the job done on the penalty kill by only allowing one shot from the outside.

With time running down, Morrow nearly redeemed himself. But he had his shot from in close stopped by Ersson.

After failing to capitalize on a man-advantage (man-disadvantage), the Blueshirts got back in it thanks to Vincent Trocheck putting in his own rebound to cut the deficit to 4-3 with 10:47 left.

After Gabe Perreault led J.T. Miller, he made a good pass for Trocheck, who was able to sneak a backhand through Ersson for his first goal since Nov. 26. That ended an 11-game scoring drought.

With time starting to get short, Trocheck played a key role in helping the Rangers tie the score. During a forecheck, he applied enough pressure on Rasmus Ristolainen to force him to clear the puck out of play. After careful discussion from the refs, they made the right call for a delay of game that gave the Rangers one more power play with exactly three minutes remaining.

This time, they made it work thanks to some good teamwork. After playing catch with Zibanejad, Morrow moved the puck back for a quick one-timer that beat Ersson to tie it with 2:34 left in regulation.

Zibanejad’s goal was his 115th power-play goal as a member of the Rangers, putting him within one of tying both Camille Henry and Chris Kreider for the franchise record. The goal also moved him into a tie for sixth place with Vic Hadfield on the all-time Rangers franchise list. Zibanejad is up to 262 goals. Next up is Andy Bathgate (272).

The game went into overtime. With a crucial point up for grabs, the Rangers got themselves in penalty trouble. First, Panarin was called for slashing when he accidentally broke the stick of Cam York. He was incensed by the call due to it being soft. 

But the Flyers were their own worst enemy on the four-on-three by continuing to pass the puck around instead of setting up shots. Shesterkin was only called upon to make two saves on Cam York with neither difficult.

After Panarin returned, he got a tough shot that Ersson shrugged off. On a play in his own zone, Morrow gave away the puck in the neutral zone, which led to him taking down Zegras. It was another lousy puck decision that put the Flyers back on the power play with less than 51 seconds left.

Following a Flyers timeout taken by Rick Tocchet, they set up a good shot that Travis Konecny got a piece of. This time, Shesterkin made the big save. It was the only shot the Flyers got which meant a shootout.

In Round One, Panarin went to the backhand on a deke after getting Ersson to bite on the fake to make it 1-0. Shesterkin denied the dangerous Zegras.

In Round Two, Trocheck came in from the right side before going far side to make it 2-0. With Konecny needing to score, Shesterkin went to an aggressive poke check that forced Konecny to go high with his shot grazing off the crossbar to give the Rangers a well deserved victory on home ice.

Happy teammates gave it to Shesterkin, who overcame a bad period to get the win. Maybe that will be a confidence boost for the emotional goalie, who clearly needed it after how frustrated he was following the home loss to Vancouver on Tuesday.

We’ll see if the Rangers can follow it up when they visit Nashville tomorrow night. They really need to make it three straight wins. There are no excuses.

Miller Exits With Upper-body Injury

After picking up a primary assist on Trocheck’s goal that made it 4-3 in the third period, Miller exited the game with an upper-body injury.

On a play in the neutral zone, Miller absorbed a clean open ice hit from Nick Seeler that sent him down. Unfortunately, he was favoring his shoulder as he went to the locker room.

It didn’t look good. Miller is just starting to find his rhythm offensively. If he’s lost for a stretch, it would be another blow to the Rangers. In his place, Cuylle moved up to play with Trocheck and Perreault, who picked up his third point in five games this season.

I wouldn’t expect to see Miller tomorrow or on Dec. 23 versus the Capitals.