Recap: Panthers Hand Rangers First Regulation Loss of the Season

A marquee matchup on Broadway tonight as we had an Eastern Conference Final Rematch with the Florida Panthers paying a visit to Madison Square Garden in their first meeting with the Rangers since advancing to the Stanley Cup Final last season. That in itself made this one an important game in the early part of the Rangers season despite how close to perfect of a start it's been. Especially with this matchup happening so soon into the new year, wounds from the last playoff run are still fresh, making this game a great opportunity for the Rangers to continue to make a statement following their 5-0-1 run to start.

1st Period:

Not a good start for the navy Blueshirts as Adam Fox got caught on the same side of the ice as K’Andre Miller which allowed for Eetu Luostarinen to poke the puck free towards the slot. It would end up right on the stick of Anton Lundell who was all alone in front of Shesterkin for a quick touch to put the Rangers behind 1-0 just 44 seconds into the game. 

Just under three minutes later, a failed attempt to get the puck out of the defensive zone gave the fan base traumatic flashbacks to the playoffs and put the Rangers down by two. Carter Verhaeghe was able to take the puck right back to the outside slot and beat Shesterkin with a shot upstairs, 2-0 game. 

Slowly but surely, the Rangers were getting back to their game and thanks to an outstanding shift from the Panarin line, the lead was cut in half. Adam Fox did a good job of winning a board battle to keep the puck in the zone and was able to find Alexis Lafrenière cutting towards the net to finish on his backhand, 2-1 game. 

A great shift from the fourth line nearly tied the game up as Adam Edström sent Jonny Brodzinski in all alone but was robbed by the glove of Sergei Bobrovsky. The reigning Cup Champ netminder continued to have a strong night as he shut down Filip Chytil on a great drive to the net chance in front off a nice feed from Kakko. 

When the Rangers were on their game, humming in the offensive zone, they could skate with this team as good as anyone. When it came to getting the puck out of their own end or beating Florida in transition, that’s where a lot of the problems we saw in the postseason were coming to fruition. A defensive zone turnover from Mika Zibanejad almost proved to be costly as it created an up close breakaway for Luostarinen that required sharp positioning from Shesterkin to turn away. 

With just under five minutes to go in the opening period, the Panthers took the first penalty of the night as Sam Reinhart was called for hooking Braden Schneider at Florida’s blueline. The Rangers were quick to establish a grade-A scoring chance but Bobrovsky again came up with some massive saves to shut down Chris Kreider right at the doorstep along with several other chances. 

Shots at the end of twenty were 11-10 in favor of New York who also outchanced the Panthers 16-6 and led in the high danger count 9-4. Despite the close score and abundance of scoring chances, the Rangers were quite sloppy to start and Florida didn’t hesitate to take advantage of those shortcomings. 

2nd Period:

The Panthers wasted no time getting back to work as both Sam’s, Bennett and Reinhart, both had quality scoring chances within the first two minutes on separate rushes. Their consistent pressure continued through the first five minutes with the tide eventually turning as Chytil found himself on a partial breakaway for a quick shot that Bobrovsky turned away.

Bobrovsky would rob the Rangers yet again as Braden Schneider picked up his initial shot that was blocked by Aaron Ekblad to try and catch the veteran netminder off guard. This resulted in a juicy rebound in front of that net that Vincent Trocheck was all over for a surefire goal but alas, Bobrovsky was able to extend a leg to get a pad on it. 

That momentum quickly shifted to the other side of the ice and the Panthers were able to extend their lead. A shot from Niko Mikkola at the point was deflected by Sam Bennett in front to beat Shesterkin, making it a 3-1 game. 

Nearing the midway mark of the outing, Verhaeghe collided with Igor Shesterkin which resulted in Ryan Lindgren, who is currently playing while healing what is assumed to be a broken jaw, to go after him just enough to not draw any additional penalties. This gave the Rangers their second power play of the night which would be a perfect opportunity to get back in this one. Alas, they struggled significantly to maintain possession, giving up some shorthanded odd-man rushes in the process. 

With about six minutes to go in the second, Matthew Tkachuk drew a penalty from Kaapo Kakko, giving Florida their first power play of the night. Not an ideal break for the Rangers but their efforts on the penalty kill were arguably more effective then they had been a 5-v-5 throughout the second. Great job from the penalty killers to keep the puck out of harm's way while generating some offense in the process. 

While the Rangers closed out the period with one of their better shifts, they were out-shot significantly throughout the middle twenty as they were credited with just four to Florida’s nine. As a result, the Panthers had over double the scoring chances and looked to be in good control of things as they took a 3-1 lead into the second intermission. The Rangers would need one of their stapled third period comebacks if they were going to keep their point streak intact. 

3rd Period: 

Less than a minute into the third, Artemiy Panarin took a stick up high from Dmitry Kulikov to give the Rangers another power play opportunity. Not much to show for through those two minutes save for one shot on goal from the Rangers and just as the teams returned to even strength, Jacob Trouba took a hooking penalty on the following shift. Some strong puck movement from the Panthers resulted in the best save of the night from Igor as he robbed Verhaeghe right at the doorstep. And in case you were wondering how he could top it, Igor came up with an equally as impressive save just moments later. 

As the period went on, Panarin swapping places with Reilly Smith in the top-six wouldn’t be the only line juggling Peter Laviolette and the coaching staff played with as we saw the following combos nearing the midway point of the third:

Smith - Trocheck - Kakko ; Panarin - Chytil - Lafrenière ; Cuylle - Trocheck - Lafrenière

These changes wouldn’t help generate much as the Panthers stayed disciplined in completely shutting down the Rangers and maintaining their 3-1 lead. 

With three minutes to go in the third, the Panthers took their fourth penalty of the night which not only gave the Rangers a key power play, but led them to pull Shesterkin for the extra attacker. With a 6-on-4 advantage, it was last called for the Rangers to try and spark a comeback but as time quickly escaped them, it just wasn’t in the cards. They had stretches where they moved the puck well and had their looks but just couldn’t get enough shots off and with how good Bobrovsky was playing, clean shots weren’t going to help them out much to begin with. 

Final tally for shots on goal would be 29-25 Florida who settled into a strong shutdown game after establishing an early lead. The Rangers without question made their mistakes that Florida exploited but easily could have been right alongside them on the scoreboard had they not been robbed by Bobrovksy on several occasions. Interesting to see Laviolette break out the blender with the line combinations in this context but given how the game was going, it was certainly worth a shot. 

Not a game to start panicking but one to definitely take notes on as the Rangers have to find an answer for this Florida team if this is going to be the year they truly become a different team, the kind that can finally go the distance. The Rangers are back at it on home ice Saturday Night as they’ll take on the Anaheim Ducks.