Thursday night was the start of the next two and a half weeks away from home, as the Florida Panthers paid a visit to the New York Rangers for their first matchup since they met in the 2024 Eastern Conference Final, where the Cats won the series in six games.
In their one and only visit to Madison Square Garden this year, the Panthers scored early and never surrendered the lead as they went in and defeated the Rangers by a final of 3-1 in a battle of two of the league’s best goaltenders.
Less than a minute into the game, the Panthers got on the scoresheet as they chipped the puck into the Rangers zone.
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After a bit of a battle on the half wall, Eetu Luostarinen chipped the puck down to the corner to Sam Reinhart, and with the Rangers failing to pick up Anton Lundell in the low slot, he made them pay.
Lundell did not hesitate as his one-timer beat Igor Shesterkin over the shoulder 44 seconds into the first period.
It did not take long for the Panthers to get their second goal, as the Cats rimmed the puck around the boards, and with Gustav Forsling forcing a turnover, he dropped it off to Carter Verhaeghe where his wrist shot found the back of the net past the far side of Shesterkin at 2:42 of the first to make it 2-0.
With going up against the Eastern Conference runner-up from last year, there was a feeling that the Rangers were going to have some type of response.
Alexis Lafreniere kept the puck in the Panthers zone and rimmed it around the boards. The puck found Adam Fox, where he went to battle on the half wall before centering it back to Lafreniere who drove to the blue paint with speed.
Lafreniere had it on his forehand with no Panthers there to break it up, and with Sergei Bobrovsky committing to the right post, Lafreniere brought it to his back hand and easily converted to cut their deficit to one at 4:44 of the first.
The Panthers had the first five shots of the game before the Rangers got the next six.
Neither team scored in the remainder of the period, but Bobrovsky came up big as Chris Kreider had two opportunities in front of the net on the Rangers power play to keep it at a one-goal lead.
Panthers got the first goal of the second period after they got the puck deep in the Rangers zone after they were called for icing.
They were able to get their changed, worked the puck low-to-high, point-to-point, and Niko Mikkola’s slap shot was redirected by Sam Bennett to once again give the Cats a two-goal lead at 6:59 of the second period.
Every Panther on the ice touched the puck on that goal.
Florida controlled the second period as they allowed five shots on goal, and didn’t allow a single shot attempt on the penalty kill midway through the frame.
The Panthers continued to control play in the third period, and although the Rangers did have an opportunity to cut it to 2 when they went on the power play with 3:03 to go.
New York brought on the extra attacker, and Florida was still able to force them to the outside and closed the game out to give them a 3-1 win in their one and only visit to Madison Square Garden this season.
Bobrovsky got win number 400 for his career, and the Panthers started their five-game road trip on a good note.
They are 73-0-4 since March of 2023 when leading after two periods, including the playoffs.
Florida will now shift their focus to the Islanders as they will pay a visit to UBS Arena on Saturday night as they continue their tour around state of New York.
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