Rangers eliminated by Panthers in Game 6 as long playoff run falls short of elusive Stanley Cup
SUNRISE, Fla. — A Rangers season that was so special was reduced to just another commonality.
For all the firsts, all the records and all the commotion their 2023-24 campaign caused, the Blueshirts were ultimately just another NHL team who couldn’t make it over the hump after their 2-1 loss in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Panthers on Saturday night brought their season to a not-so-special end.
That third win has evaded the Rangers for their last two conference final appearances, and the Stanley Cup drought will continue to 31 years.
The meaningless Presidents’ Trophy is the only hardware the Rangers are coming away with this season.
“What we built as a team here, it just felt special this year,” a dejected captain Jacob Trouba said. “It felt like we had something in this room. It was a bond. Probably too soon to elaborate.”
The Rangers were shackled in this series against a Panthers team that made them feel it and work for it every shift.
Most of the stronger periods they had rarely resulted in anything more than a scoreless frame or a one-goal lead, which was the case once again after 20 minutes Saturday night.
Florida broke up every one of the Rangers’ East-West pass attempts, but at least there was occasional sustained zone time while goalie Igor Shesterkin stood tall at the other end.
With less than a minute left in the first period, however, Erik Gustafsson’s weak backhanded clearing attempt — a Rangers trend all series — allowed the Panthers to barge back into the zone. Trouba went for the hit as Sam Bennett slipped the puck to Evan Rodrigues, who left a drop pass for the Panthers forward to one-time into the back of the net for the 1-0 lead.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Rangers in the NHL playoffs
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- Rangers eliminated by Panthers in Game 6 as long playoff run falls short of Stanley Cup
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- Rangers can’t find winning combo despite slew of lineup changes
Much like the rest of the series, Shesterkin was the Rangers’ only saving grace as he made 32 stops to keep it a one-goal game until just over halfway through the third period when ex-Ranger Vladimir Tarasenko hammered the nail in his former club’s coffin at the 9:08 mark.
All but one game in this series was decided by a single goal.
“It was difficult to score,” head coach Peter Laviolette said. “Generating the quality that we wanted to generate, we knew that coming in. We knew it from the way they finished the season, we knew it from their first round, their second round and coming in, that they weren’t giving up a lot. Ultimately, I think that’s something that we were able to do pretty consistently throughout the course of the year. You look at the scores, you look at the games — low-scoring, one-goal games — I think just trying to find that next goal inside of a game could be the difference.”
Laviolette, who was lauded for the continuity he was able to maintain in the Rangers lineup all year long despite two season-ending injuries, ended up deploying 10 different lineups to finish the playoffs.
The loss of Jimmy Vesey hurt the fourth line’s identity and forced a change, but nearly every other personnel decision seemed to be a reaction for a coach that was so sturdy and so sure of himself all year.
Game 6 saw Laviolette blow up the lines — except for the untouchable unit of Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere — to no avail.
The thought process behind it all just seemed to get convoluted once Filip Chytil came into the mix in Game 3 of the second-round against Carolina, which became another aspect of the Rangers’ game for Laviolette to manage.
And yet, despite operating under another coach and making moves at another trade deadline, the Rangers still can’t answer the age-old question of who to play on the right wing with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider.
As beneficial as it would be to have a player who fits in well with Zibanejad and Kreider, if the club’s two longest-tenured players can’t make a significant mark on a series, the Rangers go nowhere.
The same sentiment rings true regarding the team’s most dynamic skater, Panarin, and top defenseman, Adam Fox, who combined for seven assists in this series before the Russian wing chipped in a goal with less than two minutes left in regulation Saturday.
As the Rangers’ best players went quiet, so did the best parts of the Rangers’ game.
The power play scored once in 15 tries.
The penalty kill gave up five goals.
The offensive drive was stymied.
It was ultimately what doomed the Rangers, who, despite holding a 2-1 series lead at one point, never measured up to the hunger and tenacity Florida played with every game.
“Our guys fought this year, they bought in right from the start,” Laviolette said. “They fought, we make it to this point, it’s disappointing. When you start something like this, you don’t do it to get three wins in the playoffs or five wins in the playoffs, you do it to go the whole way. So there’s a disappointment right now that sets in, for sure, with regard to our group and our intentions that we had throughout the course of the year.”
There was so much going for the Rangers this season.
There was supposed to be a different ending.
There was nothing special about it.
