The New York Rangers have been waiting for Pavel Dorofeyev’s first signature moment since his Blueshirts debut in September. He finally delivered one Thursday night, and hope abounds that it will be the first of many for the 26-year-old.

Dorofeyev scored his fifth goal of the 2026-27 season, netting the game-tying power-play goal at 13:52 of the third period to spark a 3-2 comeback win over the Philadelphia Flyers.

“I think it’s a huge goal for him. For us and him,” coach Mike Sullivan offered postgame. “I was happy that he scored tonight. He’s an important player for us.”

Dorofeyev’s early-season production hardly matched his impressive scoring output over his final two seasons with the Vegas Golden Knights. He lit the lamp 35 times in 2024-25 and followed that up with a career-high 37-goal campaign in 2025-26. But prior to his third-period equalizer against Philadelphia, Dorofeyev had managed just four goals in 16 games with New York. To rub salt in the wound, he entered Thursday with more shots off the goal posts (five) than goals (four) — and left with that distinction intact after ringing another shot off the iron in the first period.

A couple of friendlier bounces may have nudged Dorofeyev closer to double-digit goals through his first 17 games. But nothing helps erase the sting of a flyout to the warning track quite like a big home run. For Dorofeyev, perhaps that power-play snap shot with just over six minutes left in regulation was his long-awaited blast into the stands.

“It obviously helps, a lot of posts (have) been hit, but I just gotta keep focusing on the game, trying again and again,” Dorofeyev said postgame. “Hopefully it’s going to come post and in at some point. Just gotta stick with that and believe in myself.”

It also served as a rallying cry for the Rangers, who celebrated their first comeback win of the season after Tye Kartye scored one minute and 29 seconds after Dorofeyev.

“That was great,” Kartye added when asked about the Dorofeyev goal. “You saw the shot, that’s a pretty special release. I’m sure some of these posts are going to start going in, so yeah, we were all really happy for him.”

How lineup switch saved Rangers’ fate late

Dorofeyev’s slow start was not what the Rangers envisioned when they traded two first-round picks to Vegas and signed him to a seven-year, $77 million contract this summer. But perhaps another old baseball adage gave him the breakthrough he needed?

Like moving a slumping hitter down in the lineup, Mike Sullivan dropped Dorofeyev off of the top line with Mika Zibanejad and Alexis Lafreniere in the third period to take some pressure off – and when the hungry sniper got back out there on the man advantage trailing by a goal in the final stretch, he delivered.

Sullivan had said before the game that ‘there’s more there’ in terms of what he’d seen from that top line, but at some point, the present overtakes the future, and that point was 40 minutes in last night.

“I think it’ll be good for Pav. We’re trying to find combinations where we can develop some chemistry, so there’s always that fine line in having patience and allowing line combinations to build chemistry with trying to win the game in front of you,” Sullivan said. “It’s been a few games now, and after the second period, we felt we needed more from our top guys. Gabe (Perreault) with Mika and Laf, they’ve shown that chemistry, and J.T. (Miller’s) line has been the most consistent overall, so we made that switch.”

Sullivan had also reached out to former Golden Knights coach John Tortorella, who saw Dorofeyev up close over Vegas’ last 15 games and eventual run to the Stanley Cup Finals last season. The message was that change isn’t easy, even for the best.

“I’ve talked to Torts multiple times about Pav, and he’s offered me insight on some of the things he did that he felt move Pav in the right direction,” Sullivan explained. “I’m trying to utilize some of those insights, and it’s a work in progress.

It never hurts when you have a strong history against a goaltender, either, as Dorofeyev does against Flyers netminder Joseph Woll. Thursday’s goal was his third in four career games against Woll.

It also marked his third goal in the last five games, after just two in New York’s first 12 contests this season.

Maybe, to use an allegory New York Yankees fans will appreciate, Woll is the Pedro Martinez to Dorofeyev’s Enrique Wilson, and just as it takes the right spark to start a chemical reaction, perhaps this goal is the one that gets the Russian winger on a hot streak.

“My experience has been when a player changes teams like that, signs a fairly decent contract, sometimes there’s a little bit of an adjustment process that players go through,” Sullivan said. “I think Pav is going through that process with us right now, trying to figure it out. He’s trying to figure out how to assimilate into this group and contribute in a way that can help us have success, and on our end, we’re trying to explore different options from a line combination standpoint to try to set him up for success.”