Recap: Rangers Run Out of Chances, Lose to Florida 5-3

After falling short yet again, the Rangers will ride into the new year on a four game losing streak, having gone 3-11 through the month of December. On the one hand, this was far and away the most noticeable effort we’ve seen from this group, probably all month. On the realistic hand, it didn’t matter. They weren’t good enough to win the hockey game, they didn’t find a way to get it down and continue to dig themselves in a hole that’s growing deeper by the minute. Will this be the straw that breaks the camel’s back or will they run it back in hopes they’re problems stay in 2024? Time will tell I suppose. At any rate, here’s how this one went down. 

1st Period:. 

After another decent start, the Rangers couldn’t help but give up the first goal to put themselves in a hole just over three minutes into the game. Florida walked their way through the neutral zone, the Rangers panicked with the puck and a certain big name player who is expected to be a top center for this team just blindly threw the puck up the highway. A shot from Gustav Forsling at the point took a redirect off the stick of Eetu Luostarainen to sneak through Igor Shesterkin, 1-0 Florida. 

Just a couple of minutes later, another shot from the point, this time Dmitry Kulikov, sailed through traffic and went bar south to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead. Mackie Samoskevich barely touched Shesterkin but why not waste a coaches challenge right? In my opinion, it wasn’t even close. No goaltender interference, the goal stood and the Rangers were now shorthanded, down 2-0 within the first five minutes of the game. Samoskevich would later be credited with the goal as he got a piece of it on the way in. 

Against all odds, the Rangers managed to kill off the penalty they were awarded for a failed coaches challenge but it wasn’t long before they were shorthanded again. A bit of a scrum broke out away from the play which resulted in penalties to both teams. Alexis Lafrenière was given an additional minor for starting the scrap as he and A.J. Greer were given matching roughing penalties. 

The Rangers had their best scoring chance on the disadvantage as Vincent Trocheck found himself on a breakaway but couldn’t manage to beat Sergei Bobrovsky. They were successful in killing off the rest of this advantage making them 0-for-2 to start which on the bright side, was a step up from last game. With roughly five and a half to go in the opening period, the Rangers got their first crack at the power play as Sasha Barkov was called for interference .

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, the top unit had some decent looks but failed to pose any serious threats. This leaves them at a preposterous 0-21 stretch on the man advantage which given the fact this group once lived by their power play, is bewildering. The period ended with another half-hearted scrum after Brett Berard went hard to the net and gave Bobrovsky a snow shower in the process. This led to Sam Carrick jawing at it with Greer on the benches which at this point, is just wasted energy. 

Shots after twenty were 10-9 in favor of the Rangers. In terms of scoring chances, both regular and high danger, the numbers were fairly even but when push came to shove, one team took advantage of those chances and the other did not. The Rangers dug themselves another hole and were now down to forty minutes to find a way out of it. 

2nd Period:

The Mika Zibanejad Mystery continued at the start of the second as he had to skip out on his first shift of the period, appearing to be in some discomfort. With Filip Chytil taking his place, he would only miss the one shift but still, something to keep in mind.

Close to four minutes in, the Panthers were caught with too-many men on the ice which sent the Rangers back to the power play. A less impressive look the second time around but Filip Chytil nearly put the Rangers on the board on a great off the rush chance that rung hard off the post. While they wouldn’t convert on the power play, it did kickstart a stretch that lasted through the first half of the period where the Rangers were running the show.

Just over the midway point of the period, Brett Berard clipped the leg of Uvis Balinskis upon delivering a hit which sent him off for tripping. Hard to fault him when he remains to be one of the few players giving a visible 100% effort on a nightly basis. 

With about five minutes to go, Chytil was finally rewarded for his efforts. A great spin-o-rama- pass over to Berard, Chytil went right to the net to pick up the rebound that came from the shot by Berard. With plenty of net to shoot at, Chytil somehow sent the puck through the legs of Bobrovsky and still managed to sneak through, 2-1 game. 

This goal sparked some energy from the Rangers and after a pair of strong shifts, they were able to tie the game up. Ryan Lindgren was caught pinching which worked out in his favor as Carrick found Adam Fox at the point who fed it right back to Lindgren who was cutting hard to the net. Textbook redirect from an unlikely source for a massive goal. 

With three minutes to go, Carter Verhaeghe jabbed at a puck Shesterkin had pinned between his skate and the post which knocked the Rangers’ netminder over and created mayhem in front of the net. Jesper Boqvist would pick up the loose puck with a wide open net to shoot at, 3-2 Panthers. The officials did take an extended look at it but it would stand as a good goal. 

Meanwhile, Ryan Lindgren was right back to being on the wrong side of the score sheet as he took a mindless defensive zone tripping penalty not long after the Rangers gave up the lead. Quite an inopportune time to take a penalty like that but thankfully, they remained perfect on the penalty kill and only trailed by one heading into the second intermission. Certainly a better showing all around as the Rangers showed some life for the first time in forever. Shots were now 24-19 in New York’s favor. They would need a big period in order to find their way back in this one. 

3rd Period:

After another strong start to the period, Sam Bennett had a big scoring chance for the Panthers as he cut hard up close to the Rangers net. This resulted in Lindgren laying a hard hit on Bennett that left him crashing into Shesterkin. Thankfully, the Rangers netminder was alright despite being a little slow to get up. About five minutes in, Lafrenière was tripped up by Verhaeghe, sending the Rangers back to the power play. 

Few players on this roster needed a goal more than their typical heart and soul leader in Chris Kreider. A great passing sequence from Trocheck and Panarin found Kreider alone in front of the Panthers net which allowed for him to let a quick shot go to tie the game back up, now 3-3. 

A few minutes later, the Rangers were back to the power play as Aaron Ekblad sent the puck over the glass in a clearing attempt to earn a delay of game call. A sloppier power play this time around, the Rangers still saw some chances and Kreider nearly had a second goal to give them the lead. Nevertheless, the score remained tied at three in what was quickly becoming one of the most entertaining and effort-filled Rangers games we’ve seen in quite some time. 

With about eight and a half to go, K’Andre Miller got beat on the rush by Jesper Boqvist which led to a defensive zone collapse that ended with Florida regaining the lead yet again. Miller seemed to double down on his mistake as he allowed Boqvist to hang around unattended down low as his brother, Adam Boqvist, managed to set him up for a rebound with a perfect shot from the point. 4-3 Florida. 

Just an incredibly frustrating goal to give up after climbing their way back into this game for a second time this evening. With just under three minutes to go, the Panthers again sent the puck over the glass for their second delay of game penalty of the night. This was immediately after Will Cuylle nearly tied the game again as Bobrovsky robbed him with the pad. 

On their fifth power play of the night, the Rangers pulled Shesterkin for the extra attacker in an attempt to tie this thing again. In theory, it made sense but I truly can’t remember a time where pulling the goalie worked in their favor save for that one buzzer beater from K’Andre Miller against Dallas what feels like a lifetime ago. Same sad story. The Rangers had chances but it ended with them giving up an empty net goal. 

That’s all she wrote for the Rangers in 2024. Not a great way to end the calendar year but there were some positives to take no matter how difficult it may be to acknowledge. All we can do is hope by some miracle they leave these struggles in 2024 but until they prove capable of snapping out of it, it’s frustrating times in Rangersland. They’re back at it on home ice Thursday Night as they’ll host the Boston Bruins for an Original Six match-up.