First Period:
- Matthew Tkachuk (5) Assists: Gustav Forsling (6), Carter Verhaeghe (6)
Second Period:
Third Period:
- Carter Verhaeghe (7) Unassisted
- Sam Bennett (3) (Empty Net) Assists: Matthew Tkachuk (11)
Stats:
Adam Rotter:
- There was a lot of the Carolina series in this game for the Rangers. The Panthers had the puck for most of the night, the Rangers weren’t getting a lot of shots, the Panthers were strong defensively in breaking up plays and limiting Ranger chances and looked like the better team.
- They looked out of sync. This game had a very Game 5 against Carolina feeling to it. The Rangers just couldn’t generate a ton offensively. The Panthers are a good team, they are structured, physical and will make it tough, but the Rangers are skilled and talented enough to generate offense. They showed in Game 6 against Carolina, when their desperation level turned up, that they could play a simple, straight-ahead offensive game and they didn’t do that enough tonight.
- The Panthers deserved to win and the Rangers will need to be a lot sharper and smarter offensively.
- They did finally start to put together some offense and get some quality chances after they killed off Alexis Lafreniere’s penalty halfway through the third. They had a few big chances, hit the post once, the side of the net another and were stopped by Bobrovsky. It wasn’t good enough overall, but they showed they can generate offense and it’s what they are going to need to do as the series goes on.
- At some point, we will find out what is hampering Adam Fox. It doesn’t really matter because he’s well enough to play, but he’s been nowhere near the player he can and should be.
- It was a statement performance from the Panthers. They played a great game and set a ton for what is to come. They are not unbeatable, but the Rangers need to play better, smarter and execute better. It was 1-0 when they had a big scramble right after Alexis Lafreniere’s penalty. They had a chance in front and then Lafreniere hits the post. They were that close to tying it and then who knows, but for 45-50 minutes the Rangers weren’t generating enough.
- In some ways it’s good to know that the Panthers can play just about their best game overall and the Rangers were still one shot away from tying it, but the Rangers know that they have to be better and they should be better on Friday.