O guards responded to being shut out in Game 1 to beat the Florida Panthers in their own game with a 2-1 overtime victory Friday night at Madison Square Garden.
New York tied the series at 1-1 thanks to a Barclay Goodrow winner of the game in the extra period. Goodrow stopped a puck high in the neutral zone before passing it to Vicente Trocheck who passed it back to Goodrow outside the left circle. Goodrow shot the puck over the goalie’s right shoulder for the winner.
Here are the conclusions…
-After Slow Rangers Game 1, the Blueshirts were noticeably faster and more aggressive on the ice. The Panthers were so physical in the first game that they completely knocked the Rangers out of the game and 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 Lafrenière, who had the own goal “by chance” in the series opener, he picked off a defender, forcing the puck loose to Adam Fox feed Trocheck behind Sergei Bobrovsky for the easy goal.
After the goal, the Panthers objected to the hit and Carter Verhage knocked down Lafreniere causing a fight between the teams, which led to a Rangers power play. Unfortunately, New York was unable to capitalize, which was a theme in this game.
-The Rangers went 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 final minutes led to Verhaghe’s late first period goal, 1-1.
Shots on goal were almost even, 8-7 in favor of Rangers. New York defeated the Panthers 21-15 in the first.
-The second period started in a similar way to the first. The Rangers simply couldn’t gain momentum on the offensive end and couldn’t get a shot on goal for more than 11 minutes of ice time – from the end of the first to the beginning of the second – but then the pendulum swung both ways. during most of the intervening period.
It was a very fun period, with incredible saves from both goalkeepers, pucks hitting crossbars, posts and much more. The same happened with 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, though, thanks to freebies from the Rangers. They had a total of 10 in this game, but Igor Shesterkin it 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 very careless with the puck and made some key 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, making 28 saves, including six on power plays.
-In total, the Rangers had 51 hits – up from 27 in Game 1 – and outscored the Panthers 30-27. They had 24 shots on goal in the entire first game.
–Kaapo Kakko was a healthy scratch on Friday night, the first since Game 6 of the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals. Matt Rempe played and was on the ice for 10 minutes — a playoff record. He struck out nine hits and was greeted by chants of “Rem-pe” from the MSG faithful whenever he checked in.
Jimmy Vesey left the game after a heavy hit in the second period. The Rangers ruled the injury an upper-body injury, but his absence provided extra ice time for the other wingers.
Game MVP: Igor Shesterkin
The Rangers goaltender was incredible in this one. Although he didn’t make as many saves as his counterpart, he was a wall and never looked flustered whenever Florida attacked him.
Highlights
What is the next
The Rangers and Panthers travel to Florida for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The album is scheduled to be delivered at 3pm on Sunday afternoon.
