Igor Shesterkin is showcasing Conn Smythe-level goaltending in these playoffs, especially in these Eastern Conference Finals with Panthers buzzing and snarling around his goalmouth. Vincent Trocheck might have a thing or two to say about the same award if the Rangers can persevere through their series with Florida and beyond.
And Alexis Lafrenière has become a linchpin of the Ranger offense, showing how foolhardy those who were losing patience with him – at the hardly-craggy age of 22 – really were. He continues to bloom on hockey’s biggest stage and is clearly a star going forward.
Now the Rangers need some of their other big names to assert themselves if they are going to advance out of this intense, best-of-seven battle with the rugged Panthers, which is even at two games apiece with Game 5 looming at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.
Too many Rangers stars are too quiet.
Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad do not have a single goal among them in this series and they are three of the most important cogs in the Rangers’ offense. Panarin had 49 goals during the regular season, Kreider had 39 and Zibanejad potted 26. They were first, second and fourth, respectively, in goals for the Blueshirts this year.
Panarin, who assisted on both goals in Tuesday’s 3-2 overtime loss in Game 4, has three assists and eight shots on goal in the series. Zibanejad had six shots on goal in Game 4, including one that drew iron on the crossbar, and 13 shots in the series. But he has zero points. Kreider, who did not have a shot on goal in Game 4, has five shots and zero points in the series.
Obviously, none of that is enough. If you’re an optimist, maybe you could feel like the Rangers are in a good spot – dead even, owning home ice and their best snipers have yet to really contribute. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? And the Blueshirts have gotten offensive contributions from other parts of the roster, including big goals from Barclay Goodrow and Alex Wennberg.
But it sure would be easier if Panarin, Kreider and Zibanejad started scoring, too. Even Shesterkin can’t save everything, so some goals would be nice.
Florida’s swarming forecheck has done a terrific job of pinning the Rangers in their own zone throughout the series, which might explain why the Blueshirts have had struggles finding an offensive rhythm. At one point in the third period of Game 4, Florida held them without a shot on goal for around 15 minutes.
It’s been hard for the Rangers to move the puck up the ice consistently, though they’ve had some neat sequences, particularly in Game 3 where they blazed through the neutral zone and Lafrenière scored his first goal of the series. At one point Tuesday, looking for a spark, Laviolette promoted Kaapo Kakko to the first line with Kreider and Zibanejad and moved Jack Roslovic down in the rotation. But the Panarin-Trocheck-Lafrenière line was responsible for both Ranger goals in the game.
Who could blame the coach for changing personnel to try to find a jolt? The Rangers may have played their best period of the series in the first, taking a 1-0 lead on a Trocheck goal. But then they cratered in the second – Shesterkin was under siege and allowed two goals and the Rangers were behind, 2-1. They probably would’ve trailed by more than that had Shesterkin not been standing on his head.
The Rangers scored an equalizer in the third period, but Florida kept up its pressure and the Panthers won quickly in overtime, scoring on the power play 72 seconds into the extra period after Blake Wheeler took a hooking penalty. It wasn’t Wheeler’s fault, really – a giveaway at the other end by Zibanejad led to a Florida rush and Aleksander Barkov had the puck and was on the rush at Shesterkin. Wheeler hooked him on a play in which the Panthers perhaps could’ve been awarded a penalty shot.
They didn’t need it – one of their stars, Sam Reinhart, scored the winner.
With the Eastern Conference Finals down to whoever can win two of the next three games, now the Rangers need their stars to make big-time plays like that.
Can Panarin, Kreider and Zibanejad light the lamp?
