The top employee down, the caretaker who works miracles in a vacuum. We won’t blame the Rangers if they feel like they’re in the same bad movie for the second year in a row.
While Artemi Panarin is looking for himself, while Igor Shesterkin stops pucks like your distant uncle stops blood, the Florida Panthers took another step towards the Stanley Cup final on Thursday. They won 3-2 over the Rangers in New York to give themselves a 3-2 lead in the Eastern final.
With a victory on Saturday at home, Paul Maurice’s men will participate in a second final in a row, after the one lost against Vegas in 2023. Devilishly impressive Panthers, because they are the winners of the Presidents’ Trophy that they are on the verge of to oust.
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If they finished at 1er rank in the general classification in the season, it’s because they have talent to spare, these Rangers. But for the second spring in a row, the most talented of the lot, Panarin, fell flat at the wrong time. During the 2023 series, at the first round against the Devils, the Russian was limited to two points in seven games, in a series lost by the New Yorkers.
This season, Panarin started the playoffs better and still has 14 points in 15 games. Except that in this Eastern final, there were three small assists in five games and, above all, no goals, even though he had 49 in the season. Added to his lethargy are some questionable decisions with the puck, such as a turnover in the defensive zone at the end of the first period which will be part of the horror film of his head coach, Peter Laviolette.
PHOTO DENNIS SCHNEIDLER, USA TODAY SPORTS
Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin
Meanwhile, his compatriot Shesterkin did the best he could in front of his goal, even going so far as to make the clearance himself during a numerical inferiority of his club at the start of the match. Like Garou, he must find the world very unfair when he sees that he is one defeat away from elimination, despite an efficiency of .934 in the Eastern final so far. Last year, Shesterkin posted an efficiency of .931 in the series lost to the Devils. Apart from scoring goals, can he do more?
Sandpaper versus talent
We are talking about Panarin, but Mika Zibanejad is not delivering the expected results in this series either.
The Swede with the abundant mane at least broke the ice by obtaining his first point in five games, a pass to launch Chris Kreider on a breakaway. By scoring, Kreider also collected his first point against the Panthers.
Except that for the second time in two matches, Zibanejad blundered at the wrong time. After his blunder which led to the winning goal on Tuesday, this time he lost a puck against Sam Bennett in the neutral zone, allowing the latter to score into an empty net. With Alexis Lafrenière’s goal a minute later, Bennett’s success ultimately became the winning goal.
This sequence was also a nice metaphor for the extremely rough style of play that allows the Panthers to dream of a return to the final. Bennett, not exactly a softy, came up the ramp with the firm intention of leaving with the puck. The reaction of Zibanejad, who suddenly raised his head, may suggest that Bennett hit him in the face with his elbow, but that doesn’t matter: the referees did not signal anything, the Rangers striker stopped playing for one second and the Panthers player left with the puck.
Under Jeff Gorton, the Rangers had been criticized for lacking “sandpaper”. The additions of Barclay Goodrow and Will Cuylle, among others, signal some progress in this direction. But sandpaper is the identity of these Panthers, identity because those who embody it, like Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk, occupy central roles, instead of being fourth-line supporting players.
That said, it’s not over for the Rangers, especially not with this goalie. After all, the last four games ended with a one-goal difference. They don’t get upgraded either.
But there are limits to what Igor Shesterkin can do, 200 feet from the opposing net.