First Period:
- Sam Reinhart (6) (Power Play) Assists: Aleksander Barkov (9), Matthew Tkachuk (12)
- Alexis Lafreniere (5) Assists: Vincent Trocheck (10), Jacob Trouba (5)
- Barclay Goodrow (5) Assists: Braden Schneider (2), Will Cuylle (1)
- Sam Reinhart (7) (Power Play) Assists: Carter Verhaeghe (7)
Second Period:
- Alexis Lafreniere (6) Assists: K’Andre Miller (3), Jacob Trouba (6)
- Barclay Goodrow (6) (Shorthanded) Assists: Vincent Trocheck (11), Ryan Lindgren (2)
Third Period:
- Aleksander Barkov (6) Assists: Carter Verhaeghe (8), Niko Mikkola (2)
- Gustav Forsling (3) Assists: Matthew Tkachuk (13), Evan Rodrigues (4)
Overtime:
- Alex Wennberg (1) Assists: Ryan Lindgren (3), Kaapo Kakko (2)
Stats:
Adam Rotter:
- They did not deserve to win this game….but they did.
- Florida was better than them in just about every facet of the game and the Rangers were lucky to even be up 4-2 going into the third period.
- The Panthers were just swarming, especially in the first in third period and they broke up every pass attempt the Rangers had, stopped every clearing attempt and forced turnovers on every rush attempt the Rangers seemed to get. This is what was expected from the Panthers, they pressure and swarm even more and better than Carolina does, and the Rangers struggled mightily to counter it.
- It’s another win for the Rangers and another game where they lost the special teams battle and the PP was shut out. The PK scored shorthanded and had some big kills, but also allowed two in the first period. They’ve managed to get halfway there, but it still sure seems hard to imagine the Rangers winning this series if they can’t get the PP producing again.
- Igor Shesterkin got a ton of work in this game. Not just the four goals and 33 saves, but having to read, react, and get set for 108 shot attempts. He allowed four, but he was still outstanding and the only reason the Rangers even had the opportunity to win this game in OT.
- It’s a great story that Barclay Goodrow has been productive offensively, but in no way, shape or form can the Rangers expect to keep winning if he’s one of their top offensive players. Alexis Lafreniere had a big game and has not let his gaffe in game one stop him and Vincent Trocheck has continued to play well, but the rest of the top-six hasn’t been able to do anything.
- This is the Artemi Panarin we didn’t want to see, Mika Zibanejad looks a bit compromised and while we can never take away that Chris Kreider sent the Rangers into this series, he’s barely done anything this series. I don’t really have expectations for Filip Chytil after all he’s been through this season, but he’s in a big spot. They’ve won without them, but it just seems so hard to believe that they can keep winning without them. If even one of them got going it would be a tremendous boost, but if the Rangers have to keep relying on secondary and tertiary scoring they are going to wear down.
- I don’t think we will see Matt Rempe again until Game 5. It’s not just the penalty he took, I think it was always a bit of a risk to play him on the road. Will we see Blake Wheeler? It would probably be a boost for everyone if he got into the lineup, but I don’t know what he would be able to bring after all his time off. At the same time, what is the difference, especially on the road, if it’s Rempe or Wheeler that only plays 5 minutes?
- Jacob Trouba is having quite a playoffs. Two assists today, missed defensive assignments and a really, really borderline hit that the Rangers probably got lucky wasn’t a major.
- So they are up 2-1 and it’s hard to imagine that the Panthers can play all that much better than they did. This was similar to Carolina where the Hurricanes were playing great, but the Rangers kept coming out on top. Can the Rangers continue to win by getting outskated and outchanced by a ton? If Igor Shesterkin continues to be remarkable and they get some timely goals, then yes. But they will only make it harder than it has to be if they can’t raise their level at 5-on-5.