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He Forest ranger responded to the shutout in Game 1 to beat the Florida Panthers in their own game with a 2-1 overtime victory Friday night at Madison Square Garden.
New York has tied the series 1-1 thanks to a Barclay Goodrow game winner in overtime. Goodrow stopped a high puck in the neutral zone before passing it to Vicente Trocheck who returned it to Goodrow just outside the left circle. Goodrow fired the puck over the goalie’s right shoulder for the win.
Here are the conclusions…
-After the Rangers’ slow game 1, the Blueshirts were noticeably faster and more aggressive on the ice. The Panthers were so physical in the first game that it completely threw the Rangers off their game and they were shut out for the first time since December.
New York matched the Panthers’ aggression and it paid off in the first period with the Rangers’ first goal of the series. Alexis Lafreniere, who had the own goal “coincidence” in the first game of the series, he took out a defender, forcing the puck to come loose for adam fox to feed Trocheck behind Sergei Bobrovsky for the easy goal.
After the goal, the Panthers took offense to the hit and Carter Verhage he tackled Lafreniere causing a fight between the teams, leading to a Rangers power play. Unfortunately, New York was unable to capitalize, which was a theme in this game.
-The Rangers went 0-for-4 with the man advantage on Friday night. They are now 0 for 6 in the first two games of this series.
-The Panthers took control of the game after the Rangers’ goal. The physicality they showed in Game 1 returned, creating opportunities in the Rangers zone. A Florida power play in the final minutes led to a goal by Verhaghe as the first period ended, 1-1.
Shots on goal were almost even, 8-7 in favor of the Rangers. New York outhit the Panthers, 21-15 in the first.
-The second half started in a similar way to the first. The Rangers simply couldn’t gain momentum on the offensive end and failed to get a shot on goal for more than 11 minutes on ice, from the end of the first to the beginning of the second, but then the pendulum swung both ways. during most of the middle period.
It was a very entertaining period with incredible saves from both goalies, pucks hitting the crossbars, posts and more. The same thing happened in the third, where both teams treated it as a sudden death where the next goal allowed would determine the game. However, Florida had plenty of scoring opportunities in the third thanks to the Rangers’ giveaways. They had a total of 10 in this game but Igor Shesterkin It was the tie for New York, saving the Rangers’ bacon on more than one occasion.
-Shesterkin kept the Rangers in this game when his teammates were too careless with the puck and made some big stops. In all, Shesterkin made 26 saves, including a big one when the Panthers threatened on a shorthanded try.
On the opposite side, Bobrosvky could have been better, making 28 saves, including six on power plays.
-In total, the Rangers had 51 hits, up from 27 in Game 1, and outshot the Panthers 30-27. They took 24 shots on goal in the entire first game.
–Kaapo Kakko It was a healthy scratch on Friday night, the first since Game 6 of the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals. Instead, Matt Rempe juice and was on the ice for 10 minutes, a playoff high. He had nine hits and the MSG faithful greeted him with chants of “Rem-pe” every time he checked in.
Jimmy Vesey He left the game after a hard blow in the second half. The Rangers called it an upper-body injury, but his absence gave more ice time to other wingers.
Game MVP: Igor Shesterkin
The Rangers goalie was incredible in this one. While he didn’t have as many saves as his counterpart, he was a wall and he never seemed flustered whenever Florida approached him.
Reflexes
Whats Next
The Rangers and Panthers travel to Florida for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The album is scheduled for delivery at 3 pm on Sunday afternoon.