The Rangers responded to being shut out in Game 1 to beat the Florida Panthers at their own game with a 2-1 overtime win on Friday night at Madison Square Garden.
New York has evened the series at 1-1 thanks to a Barclay Goodrow game-winner in the extra period. Goodrow stopped a high puck in the neutral zone before passing it out to Vincent Trocheck who returned it to Goodrow just outside the left circle. Goodrow sniped the puck over the goalie’s right shoulder for the win.
Here are the takeaways…
-After the Rangers’ sluggish Game 1, the Blueshirts were noticeably quicker and more aggressive on the ice. The Panthers were so physical in the first game that it completely took the Rangers off their game and they were shut out for the first time since December.
New York matched the Panther’s aggression and it paid off in the first period with the Rangers’ first goal of the series. Alexis Lafreniere, who had the “fluke” own goal in the series opener, took out a defender, forcing the puck loose for Adam Fox to feed Trocheck behind Sergei Bobrovsky for the easy goal.
After the goal, the Panthers took exception to the hit and Carter Verhage took down Lafreniere causing a brawl between the teams, which led to a Rangers power play. Unfortunately, New York couldn’t capitalize, which was a theme in this game.
-The Rangers were 0-for-4 with the man advantage on Friday night. They are now 0-for-6 in the first two games of this series.
-The Panthers took control of the game after the Rangers’ goal. The physicality they showed in Game 1 returned, which led to opportunities in the Rangers’ zone. A Florida power play in the waning minutes led to a Verhaghe goal as the first period ended, 1-1.
The shots on goal were almost even, 8-7 in favor of the Rangers. New York out-hit the Panthers, 21-15 in the first.
-The second period started similarly to the first. The Rangers just couldn’t get momentum on the offensive end and wouldn’t get a shot on goal for more than 11 ice minutes — from the end of the first to the start of the second — but then the pendulum swung both ways for most of the middle period.
It was a highly entertaining period with incredible saves by both goalies, pucks hitting crossbars, posts and more. The same was the case for the third where both teams treated it like sudden death where the next goal allowed would determine the game. Florida had plenty of chances to score in the third, however, thanks to Rangers giveaways. They had a total of 10 in this game but Igor Shesterkin was the equalizer for New York, saving the Rangers’ bacon on more than one occasion.
-Shesterkin kept the Rangers in this game when his teammates were too careless with the puck and made some major saves. In total, Shesterkin made 26 saves, including a big one when the Panthers threatened on a shorthanded attempt.
On the opposite side, Bobrosvky may have been better, coming up with 28 saves including six on power plays.
-In total, the Rangers had 51 hits — up from Game 1’s 27 — and outshot the Panthers 30-27. They had 24 shots on goal in the entire first game.
-Kaapo Kakko was a healthy scratch on Friday night, his first since Game 6 of the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals. In his place, Matt Rempe played and was on the ice for 10 minutes — a playoff high. He made nine hits and was greeted by “Rem-pe” chants by the MSG faithful whenever he checked in.
Jimmy Vesey left the game after a hard hit in the second period. The Rangers called it an upper-body injury, but his absence put extra ice time for other wingers.
Game MVP: Igor Shesterkin
The Rangers netminder was incredible in this one. While he didn’t have as many saves as his counterpart, he was a wall and never seemed flustered whenever Florida came at him.
Highlights
What’s next
The Rangers and Panthers travel to Florida for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Puck drop is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.
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