The Rangers’ struggles breaking down the Panthers’ defense and forecheck all night aren’t the only thing they should be concerned about after Wednesday night’s game.
What should worry them equally is that Florida coach Paul Maurice felt his team’s forecheck wasn’t particularly effective on a night when the Rangers managed just 23 shots on Sergei Bobrovsky’s goal, at one point going 14 minutes, 23 seconds without a shot on goal and losing 3-0.
“That’s the way we play,” Maurice said. “To be honest, we thought we were okay with it.
“We gave up two breakaways, and that’s a neutral zone issue because we’ve got one guy skating straight through the puck. So we’ve got to fix that. I’ll tell you, all of these games are close. The score doesn’t really tell you anything because it’s the turn of the puck. A puck that they blocked and we didn’t, or a couple on a pass that we put out, that’s the difference. I mean, there are fires in this building.”
Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
However, the Rangers failed to score once on Wednesday. And for the first 53 minutes of the game, they never came close to scoring. The offensive effort in the final seconds of the game was too slow, and Brayden Schneider’s early breakaway may have been the A’s only chance at that point.
The Panthers looked the more physical, and Matthew Tkachuk set the tone early with a hit on Vincent Trocheck.
The Panthers forechecked more effectively than any team against the Rangers this postseason, and the Panthers kept the front of their net clear all night.
“enough [possession] It’s time to really establish a net-front presence,” Chris Kreider said. “Obviously, I think we got there and we got some pucks and bodies, but we just didn’t do enough to give ourselves a chance to get in the O-zone or get to the net.”
Coming into this series, the expectation was that Florida would be similarly aggressive against the Hurricanes, a team the Rangers found ways to beat throughout the second round. That’s true, but there are limits.
The Panthers were more controlled, more physical, and harder to break down on the forecheck and in the zone.
Their top line, led by Selke Trophy winner Aleksandr Barkov, barely made a mistake all night.
And the Rangers were at a loss as to how to attack.
“I think it all comes down to playing north-south hockey,” Kreider said. “Getting the puck behind the line and putting the puck in. That’s the type of hockey that’s effective this time of year. They were playing that kind of hockey and we didn’t.”
