SUNRISE, Fla. — The night’s heartwarming story took a sudden turn 59 seconds into overtime.
Blake Wheeler, playing for the first time since collapsing on the ice at Madison Square Garden with a sore right foot on Feb. 15, was chasing Aleksandr Barkov down the ice after a Rangers turnover of the puck.
Wheeler caught up too late and had no choice but to take the penalty kick, which he did in fact take down Barkov.
Thirteen seconds into the game, the Panthers were celebrating a Sam Reinhart one-timer that gave Florida a 3-2 overtime Game 4 victory and tied the series at 2-2.
After working hard over the last three months to get back on the ice, watching and celebrating his teammates’ successes over the first 13 games of this winning streak, Wheeler was in the wrong place at the wrong time, even though it must have meant a lot to his teammates to be back with the Rangers.
It couldn’t have been any crueler for the former Winnipeg Jets captain, who came to New York on a one-year contract looking to win his first Stanley Cup title.
“It was a tough situation for him,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “There was a lot of pressure and a lot of pressure. I think it was more about what they did than anything he did.”
Wheeler finished with 9 minutes, 18 seconds of ice time. At times, Wheeler was clearly picking up speed, but Laviolette was pleased with his overall performance.
“He came and [Barclay] Good Law, [Matt] “Rempe and Wheeler put the ball in the offensive zone and really stayed there,” Laviolette said. “We were able to buy some time and get some minutes there. It’s been a while since we’ve had that. I thought he was good.”
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Considering how the Rangers handled Filip Chytil’s return from injury, benching him in Game 4 to manage his workload, it would be a surprise to see Wheeler in the lineup every night for the remainder of the season.
That Wheeler managed to perform on this stage at all is testament to his determination.
“I think it speaks to his character, the kind of person he is,” captain Jacob Trouba said. “Nobody goes through that situation and spends three months trying to come back. It speaks to his character, the kind of person he is. We’ve seen how hard he’s worked over the last three-plus months to come back and play and contribute to the team.”
The fact that Wheeler was on the ice and kicked the penalty there is unacceptably bad.
