3 Rangers takeaways from 3-1 loss to Panthers, 1st regulation defeat of season
In the aftermath of their first regulation loss of the season, 3-1 to the Florida Panthers on Thursday, New York Rangers coach Peter Laviolette summed things up in succinct fashion.
“I thought they were better in the first. I thought they were better in the second, and they were better in the third,” Laviolette said postgame.
Yep. Just like for most of their Eastern Conference Final series last spring, the Panthers were the better team at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.
Laviolette then got more expansive.
“Everything tonight goes into a bag where it wasn’t good enough,” he said. “You can talk about the 5-on-5 play, you can talk about the defense, the offense, the power play, the penalty kill. … That’s what happened tonight.”
So, after starting 5-0-1 and blitzing through their schedule — except for that wild 6-5 OT loss to the Utah Hockey Club — the Rangers came back down to earth Thursday. That it was the Panthers who cooled them off is frustrating and perhaps a lesson to heed, but certainly not the end of the world.
Better in October than again in May or June. Unless, of course, it happens again in May or June.
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3 takeaways from Rangers 3-1 loss to Panthers
Here are three key takeaways from the game Thursday.
1. Deja Vu
It was a bit eerie Thursday how the Panthers relentless pace got the better of the Rangers. Again. Just like four months ago in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Deja vu indeed.
The Rangers were forced into bad decisions, gave up a slew of Grade-A scoring chances, were disjointed offensively and spent far too much time trying to defend. The Rangers only had 41.9 percent of the scoring chances, were outchanced 25-18 overall and by a whopping 18-5 in the final two periods, per Natural Stat Trick.
Igor Shesterkin bailed them out with a slew of big-time saves — sound familiar? — and at the other end, the Rangers were turned away time and again by a sharp Sergei Bobrovsky, who earned his 400th win. When they needed a timely goal from their power play, the Rangers were completely shut down four times by the Panthers PK.
Florida has several new faces in the lineup, and played without captain Aleksander Barkov for the seventh straight game due to injury, but the commitment and execution remains. It’s plenty early this season, but this is one the Rangers need to figure out at some point.
2. Line juggling
For the first time this season, Laviolette felt the need to juggle his lines to shake things up. It didn’t work, but was the right thing to do at the time.
Mika Zibanejad not only finished with zero shots on goal, he did not have a single shot attempt in 19:20 TOI. That’s almost unbelievable. Even after he joined Alexis Lafreniere, who scored New York’s only goal earlier, and Artemi Panarin, who had nine shot attempts, though only two on net, Zibanejad couldn’t get going.
The third line looked completely overwhelmed at times. Will Cuylle, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko had a xGF of 31.84 percent and were outchanced (7-4) for the first time this season. But they were far better than Zibanejad and his regular linemates Chris Kreider and Reilly Smith, who were on for two goals against and had miserable xGF of 2.08 percent. Yikes.
When Laviolette moved Cuylle on to a line with Lafreniere and Vincent Trocheck, they outshot the Panthers 4-0 in 2:40 TOI.
3. Lindgren-Mancini pair remains together
Before the game, Laviolette said he has no plans to change his three defense pairs. Then the Rangers promptly placed veteran Chad Ruhwedel on waivers and scratched Zac Jones for a third straight game.
So, rookie Victor Mancini played his seventh straight game, second in a row with Ryan Lindgren, who returned from an upper-body injury Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens. The pair combined to block seven shots against the Panthers, including a team-high four by Mancini.
But they struggled against the relentless Panthers attack. The Rangers were outchanced 10-1 with Lindgren on the ice and 13-1 when Mancini was out there, per Natural Stat Trick. The xGF was 5.05 percent for Mancini and 6.67 percent with Lindgren. Somehow that pair was not on ice for any of Florida’s three goals. But it wasn’t a great night for them.
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