SUNRISE, Fla. — The Rangers’ incredible season has been whittled down to single digits.
The white stenciled zero that was projected next to the Blueshirts’ crest on the Jumbotron at Amerant Bank Arena for much of Saturday night’s game will be a lasting image of a 2023-24 season that ended in ignominy with a 2-1 loss to the Panthers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals.
The Rangers have missed out on a third championship in their last two conference final appearances, extending their drought for a Stanley Cup championship to three decades.
The meaningless Presidents Trophy is the only trophy the Rangers have won this season.
The Rangers have been plagued by the Panthers in this series, struggling shift after shift.
Most of their good stretches thus far have seen them scoreless or never trail by more than a one-goal lead, and that was the case again after the 20-minute mark on Saturday night.
Florida blocked all of the Rangers’ east-west passes, but at least some zone time ensued at times while goaltender Igor Shesterkin stood strong on the other end.
But with just under a minute left in the first period, a weak backhand clearing attempt by Erik Gustafsson — a trend throughout the series for the Rangers — allowed the Panthers to get into the zone.
Jacob Trouba then went for a hit and Sam Bennett slid the puck to Evan Rodriguez, who made a drop pass to the Panthers forward, who took one touch and poked it into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.
As in every game in this series, Shesterkin was the Rangers’ only saving grace, making 32 saves to hold the score to just one point through halfway through the third period.
Vladimir Tarasenko, who was on the front line with the Rangers in their first-round loss to the Devils last year, put the nail in his former team’s coffin at 9:08 of the final frame.
Coach Peter Laviolette, who was praised for keeping the Rangers’ lineup consistent all year despite two season-ending injuries, deployed 10 different lineups by the time the playoffs ended.
The departure of Jimmy Vesey hurt the identity of the fourth line and forced a change, but nearly every other personnel decision seemed to be a reaction to a coach who had been so solid and confident all year.
In Game 6, Laviolette destroyed the line, but to no avail, save for the touchdown-proof unit of Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere.
The thought process behind that has only seemed to get more complicated since Filip Chytil took the field in Game 3 of the second round against Carolina, making it another aspect of the Rangers’ game that Laviolette will have to manage.
But despite running the team under a different coach and making moves at a different trade deadline, the Rangers still haven’t answered the long-standing question of who they’ll use on right wing alongside Mika Zibandjed and Chris Kreider.
Having players with chemistry with Zibane and Kreider will be beneficial, but the Rangers aren’t going anywhere if the club’s two longest-tenured players can’t make a big impact in the series.
The same sentiment went for Panarin, the team’s most dynamic skater, and top defenseman Adam Fox, who combined for just six assists in the series, including Panarin’s goal in the final two minutes of regulation Saturday.
As the Rangers’ best players went silent, so did the best parts of the Rangers’ game.
The power play scored 1-for-15.
They gave up five goals on the penalty kill.
The momentum of the attack was halted.
That ultimately cost the Rangers, who at one point led the series 2-1 but never matched the greed and tenacity that Florida showed game after game.
The Panthers never came back strong enough to negate their advantage.
No effort was ever made to change course.
There was only zero.
