Panthers shut out Rangers to steal Game 1 of Eastern Conference finals

NHL

By Mollie Walker

The Rangers hadn’t trailed in a playoff series until the Panthers set up perfectly in the concrete jungle to kick off the Eastern Conference finals.

It took 10 games and two rounds to get there, but the Blueshirts finally met their match in a Florida team that became the first club to eliminate them in the playoffs with a 3-0 victory in Game 1 Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. strike the first blow in the fight for a place in the Stanley Cup final.

“It’s a seven-game series,” Jimmy Vesey said. “We were on the other side. Look at the last round, teams are responding and pushing and we have been a team that responded all year and met every challenge. Our state of mind is therefore no different.

There was a lot to be desired regarding the Rangers’ play in this one.

It’s not that Rangers didn’t generate scoring chances, or quality ones, but there was a disconnect of sorts that diminished the overall execution of their opportunities.

The Rangers’ self-inflicted mistakes presented the Panthers with situations they almost always took advantage of.

Florida was just as nasty and productive below the hash marks as we know.

The Panthers put pressure on the Rangers in all situations.

The Blueshirts seemed disconcerted at times.

Head coach Peter Laviolette began looking for line combinations midway through the second period, when the Rangers trailed 1-0 after a first-period goal from Matthew Tkachuk.

There was even a Kid Line sighting with Alexis Lafrenière, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko reuniting for the first time since Chytil lost 10 games in the season – in which they logged a total of 5:46 together.

None of the changes had the desired effect, as the Panthers prevented the Rangers from finding any rhythm.

“I thought the execution of our exit from our own zone and our neutral zone could have been better, which will lead to the offense,” Laviolette said. “From there, in the offensive zone, there are things we can try to do to improve as far as moving pucks, moving at a faster pace and getting more players into zones. »

The Rangers still had a chance late in the third period, which was made possible by a successful goaltender interference challenge on Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s goal less than halfway through the final 20 minutes.

That kept the home team’s deficit at one with 11:15 left in regulation, but the Rangers failed to equalize before Alexis Lafrenière inadvertently tipped Carter Verhaeghe’s cross over late in the final third.

Florida’s Sam Bennett then added an empty-net goal in the final minutes.

Even when the Panthers were penalized for having too many men on the ice to give the Rangers a power play at 13:11 of the third, their third power play of the night, they didn’t have their usual special thing with man’s advantage.

It was their fifth scoreless game on the power play in the playoffs.

“You would like to see (the team harness the energy of a successful challenge),” Laviolette said. “The building, we need to give them a little more reason.”

The Rangers had serious difficulty getting the puck out of their own territory, especially in the first period, when they committed seven turnovers.

This certainly played a direct role in the team’s multitude of failed punt attempts.

And when they lost the puck, it was always difficult to get back as the Panthers scrambled under the hash marks to maintain possession.

Tkachuk ultimately scored the game’s first goal on a wrist shot that sent the Rangers into the first intermission up 1-0.

The Panthers are a team that can outplay most opponents, but under second-year head coach Paul Maurice, their defensive efforts have been greatly improved.

This was on full display Wednesday night at MSG, in front of fans clad in blue who wanted so badly to cheer for a goal.

They’ll have to wait – and hope – to do so in Game 2 on Friday.