Gretzky, Rangers Beat Panthers 4-3

March 5, 1998 / 12:00 AM EST / CBS/AP

Wayne Gretzky pushed the New York Rangers a step closer to the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Gretzky had two power-play goals and an assist Wednesday night as the Rangers beat Florida 4-3 to move within two points of eighth-place Ottawa.

"We seem to be playing with more passion," Gretzky said. "It was a huge game, one we really needed. We've been a fragile team.

"We have no one to blame but ourselves. We hadn't committed to a lot of things we needed to commit to. Now, we're all committed to playing as hard as we can in this system."

The system Gretzky referred to was that of new coach John Muckler, 2-2 since taking over for the fired Colin Campbell during the Olympic break.

The Panthers tried a similar tack earlier in the season when they fired Doug MacLean after a 7-12-4 start. General manager Bryan Murray took over, but Florida has gone just 11-18-8 with him behind the bench.

"Both of us are battling to get into the playoffs," said Florida defenseman Ed Jovanovski, whose late second-period goal tied it 2-2."The contact was more fierce but we got to expect that in the remaining games."

The Panthers, who failed on six power-play opportunities and dropped to 0-for-18, extended their winless streak to six (0-5-1). With 22 games left, they are eight points behind Ottawa.

"This is unbelievable," center Dave Gagner said of the Panthers' plight.

Niklas Sundstrom scored his 14th goal 28 seconds into the third period as he poked in a rebound of Bruce Driver's slap shot from the point. Gretzky notched his 47th assist on the play.

Gretzky iced the final meeting of the regular season between the Atlantic Division rivals when he swatted in a rebound of Brian Leetch's slap shot at 6:58 on a power play. It was Leetch's second assist and Gretzky's second goal, giving him 15 on the season and 877 for his career. It was Gretzky's 138th career two-goal game.

"It's a desperate time and we're playing desperate hockey," said Rangers left wing Kevin Stevens, who scored his 13th goal in the second period. "And the greatest player is playing like it."

"When he has the puck he finds people on a regular basis," Murray said of Gretzky."He's pumped up with Muckler coming in to coach."

Florida cut it to 4-3 with 5:06 left when Ray Sheppard's pass deflected off defenseman Jeff Beukeboom's skate right to Ray Whitney in front for his 23rd goal.

"After they scored the third goal, we had some problems," Muckler said. "But we regained our composure and went on to win. Those are good signs."

Mike Richter had 39 saves for New York, while rookie Steve Weekes, making his second NHL start, stopped 30 shots. John Vanbiesbrouck, who started the previous 17 games for Florida, sustained a bruised left keecap during Wednesday morning's skatearound.

"This was a challenge," said Weekes, who was informed he was starting shortly before the game."It's tough, certainly your margin of error is a lot slimmer in the NHL. Obviously, I always could've done more to help the team to victory."

Stevens gave New York a short-lived lead when he beat Weekes on a breakaway at 16:02 of the second. Mike Keane's cross-ice pass set up Stevens as he plowed into Weekes.

"I don't think we've played a bad game since the new coach came in," Stevens said."It puts two more points on our side."