Last year it was a neon sign that never stopped flashing, just like those lights from the fast food chicken place across the street. One victory after another has not diminished the power.
We fear that this will happen again, we fear that this team which has passed 30 years since its one and only Cup since 1940, will disappoint again like the teams of Émile François did in the early 70s, like that of King Henrik Lundqvist. Court has been timid over the past decade, the same way the club disintegrated last spring.
A spectacular regular season raised the stakes. No team in franchise history has won as many games as this club, which annexed its 54th victory with a thrilling 3-2 shootout victory over the Islanders at the Garden on Saturday afternoon, which reduced the magic number for clinching the top seed in the East to two points. . The Blueshirts can win by beating the Senators at home on Monday in the regular season finale.
If last year it was a flashing neon sign, it did not blind Artemi Panarin. Indeed, it seems to have attracted No. 10 into its orbit. Since the moment last season ended in infamy, Panarin has made it his mission to, if not redeem himself, then at least give his best. No fuss, no fuss, Panarin attacked this season regardless of the length of his hair.
There was a cavalcade of Panarin in this one, good, bad, ugly, sensational, moving. There was the tying 2-2 goal from the left circle at 15:43 of the third period on a play designed when Vincent Trocheck came back with the puck that became the Rangers’ first five-on-five goal since the one at 16 .:56 of the third period three games ago. There was the shootout goal in the first position, after which Panarin raised his fist several times.
Meanwhile, the Rangers had scored three power play goals and one shorthanded goal in losing to the Islanders on Tuesday, losing to the Flyers on Thursday and trailing the Islanders in this one. This seemed to release the pent-up frustration of the No. 10 and his teammates.
“I was frustrated when I lost the first six minutes of the second period because of the PK,” Panarin said jokingly after sitting on the bench for the first 5:19 of the period as his team was shorthanded. “Of course (there was some frustration) but it’s not about five-on-five, it’s about goals.
“It’s about victories.”
Panarin’s tying goal was his 48th of the season, giving him one more chance to become the fifth Ranger in history to reach 50 after Vic Hadfield (50 in 1971-72), Adam Graves (54 in 1993-94) , Jaromir Jagr (52 in 2005-06) and Chris Kreider (52 in 2021-22). Panarin has 118 points, the second-highest total in team history, five shy of Jagr’s record in 2005-06.
But there was last spring when Panarin seemed lost against the Devils and there were two springs in which Panarin was inconsistent and too often unreliable in his run to the conference final, in which he was smothered by the Lightning.
Panarin declined to discuss last year’s playoffs, during which his tenuous relationship with head coach Gerard Gallant deteriorated. We’re told the winger was sent off by the coach in front of the team in an incident that didn’t go down well with anyone. Panarin also said he didn’t want to talk about what happens next week.
Anyway, talking wouldn’t mean anything. It’s about what Panarin can do, not what he says. Since signing as a free agent in 2019, Panarin has the fourth-most points in the league. A first-team all-star left winger in 2019-20, he is set to become the first Rangers forward to be named to the first team twice in more than six decades, since Andy Bathgate in 1959 and 1962. He was everything.
And this year, the best season of a career that began in Chicago in 2015-16, Panarin has dedicated himself to playing a playoff style. He attacked the interior, shooting the puck from very dangerous areas, firing six shots at Ilya Sorokin in 10 attempts, with his shooting percentage at a career-high 16.2.
There was more of a northern edge to his high-level play as Panarin was able to take on linemates Trocheck and simpatico winger Alexis Lafrenière to get into the zone with quick, creative options. Panarin drove the slot while keeping east-west turnovers to a minimum, but what was No. 10 thinking when he gave the puck away in the neutral zone with 10 seconds left in overtime, forcing Igor Shesterkin to rotate Mathew Barzal with 7.4. seconds remaining?
There’s one game to go, one game to clinch, one game for Panarin to chase 50, one game for the Rangers to go out in style.
Before the party starts.
Before Panarin does everything he can to turn the playoffs into Artemi Time while the incandescent lights shine.
New York Post
