Rangers vs Panthers Eastern Conference Final Preview and Prediction for 2024 NHL Playoffs

O guards‘The clash with the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference final features renowned players, coaches with big brains and goalies with great saves. The Blueshirts want to win their first Stanley Cup since 1994 and the Cats want to win their first Cup since, well, forever.

Both teams have the kind of courage and improvisation that can make for compelling viewing – I can’t wait to see Vicente Trocheck singing for his old team. That was certainly a fun element of the Rangers’ second-round win over Carolina, another of Trocheck’s old stops.

And the Rangers and Panthers are also deep and talented. The Rangers have five players with at least 10 playoff points so far, led by Mika Zibanejad (14) and the Panthers have three, topped by Matthew Tkachuk (14). Fourteen Panthers have scored at least one goal and 13 Rangers have done the same.

Are the rising Rangers ready to win it all in their second trip to the ECF in the last three years? Or are the Panthers, who lost last year’s Stanley Cup Final to the Vegas Golden Knights, ready to go even further now?

Here’s a look at some of the key talking points from what should be a seven-game mayhem…

Team goals

Which powerful, goalscoring force has the biggest series, Artemi Panarin or Sam Reinhart?

Panarin has made a conscious effort to shoot more this season and the result has been a monster season for Rangers, including 49 goals. He also has four game-winners in the playoffs and could destroy the series if he gets hot. Meanwhile, Reinhart scored 57 times, ranking second in the NHL behind only Toronto’s AustinMatthews, and there are five more in the playoffs. He will demand a lot of attention from Blueshirt.

Both teams also have supplementary points – Chris Kreider may have consolidated his high Ranger status with a natural hat trick in the decisive comeback against Carolina. Carter Verhaeghe scored 34 for Florida during the season and has six more in the playoffs. He holds the Panther record for playoff goals in a career (21).

Vladimir Tarasenkoa deadline acquisition from Ranger last year, could also be an offensive factor for Florida.

The Department of Defense

Both teams have been very good at preventing goals, in the regular season and in the cauldron of the playoffs, but the Panthers have been better.

For the season, they tied with Winnipeg for the fewest goals allowed, 198, an average of 2.41 per game. In the playoffs, Florida has been basically equally good, giving up just 2.45 goals per game. The Rangers have allowed 2.76 during the year and 2.60 so far in the playoffs.

Florida Defender Gustav Forsling led the NHL with a plus-56 rating during the regular season (comparedRyan Lindgren led the Rangers with plus-22). And Florida’s blue line is further bolstered by the No. 1 overall pick Aaron Ekblad, a huge presence of 1.80 meters and Brandon Montour. The Panthers also have a Vezina finalist Sergei Bobrovsky (average of 2.37 goals conceded in the playoffs) in net. Bobrovsky didn’t work as much as Igor Shesterkin (2.40 GAA) did in earlier rounds because Florida is allowing just 24.1 shots per game.

Finally, the Panthers also do great defensive work from Alexander Barkov, who just won his second career Selke Award, given to the best defensive forward in the NHL. Barkov blocked a crucial shot in the decisive game against Boston, stopping the puck in front of an open net in a vivid example of Florida’s defensive prowess.

Hello nasty

The Panthers have a lot of sandpaper on their roster and their physical style has certainly contributed to them leading the NHL in penalty minutes per game – 13.6, according to hockey-reference.com.

Three of their players were in the league’s top 19 in penalty minutes, including star forward Matthew Tkachuk, an agitator with a talent for getting a reaction from opponents. Florida and the Bruins were involved in a fight in Game 2 of their series, including scuffles between Tkachuk and Boston’s David Pastrnakand the teams combined for 148 PIM in overall play.

I wonder if Florida’s rugged nature means a Rangers cult hero Matt Rempe Will it be active for most of the series? Overall, how do the Rangers react to the Cats’ growl?

Do not throw away your dose(s)

Like Carolina, the Panthers put a lot of shot volume on opposing goaltenders – their 33 shots per game rank second in the playoffs thus far and were second during the regular season. In six second-round games against the Bruins, Florida outscored Boston 198-135. And the strategy works for them too – the Panthers are the third-highest scoring team in the playoffs, with 3.55 goals per game, slightly better than the Rangers (3.50).

Peter replaced Paul; Paul replaced Peter

This series is a showdown between two of the winningest coaches in NHL history – head of the Panthers Paulo Maurício is fourth all-time with 869 wins and coach of the Rangers Pedro Lavioleta is seventh in 807.

Just Scotty Bowman (2,141) coached more games than Maurice (1,849). And Maurice and Laviolette are linked by a historical quirk – Laviolette replaced Maurice at Carolina during the 2003-04 season. Then, during the 2008-09 season, Maurice was hired back to Carolina to replace…Laviolette.

In the meantime, however, Laviolette guided the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup in 2006, the first and, so far, only one of Laviolette’s career. Maurice is still looking for his first Cup.

Prediction

Yes, Florida took two of three from the Rangers during the regular season, but the extremely resilient Rangers may be entering “their time.”

Their penalty kill was stifling (89.5 percent, tops in playoffs) and their power play was steamy (31.4 percent, third overall) after both units were top-3 during the regular season. Add in the fact that the Rangers scored four short-handed goals in the playoffs and it’s clear that special teams make the difference. And the same could happen with Shesterkin, who continues to surprise in goal.

Rangers in seven games