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For the second time in three seasons, the New York Rangers bowed out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs to a team based in Florida. In 2022, it was the Tampa Bay Lightning, and on Saturday night, it was the Florida Panthers ending the hopes and dreams of the President's Trophy winners after prevailing in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final on home ice.
After sweeping the Washington Capitals and squeaking past the Carolina Hurricanes, the Rangers just couldn't solve the Cats, who would not be denied their second consecutive trip to the Stanley Cup Final. For Florida, it's back-to-back championship appearances and a chance to bring a Stanley Cup to South Beach for the first time ever. For New York, it's another disappointing ending after a cinderella campaign that saw the club secure an NHL-best 114 points.
The Rangers finished 55-23-4, winning the Metropolitan Division as well as the President's Trophy and looking like a juggernaut for most of the regular-season. This iteration of the roster also set team records for wins and points in a season, which is an incredible accomplishment for one of the league's oldest franchises. Still, it's a bitter ending to what will eventually be looked back on as a terrific season in the Big Apple.
The Blueshirts loaded up at the trade deadline last season, adding Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko before losing to the New Jersey Devils in a Game 7 first-round upset. And in front of the raucuous crowd at Amerant Bank Arena a year later, it was Tarasenko who scored the series-winning goal against his old team.
When the dust settled, it was a 2-1 defeat for the Rangers right as the calendar flipped to June. Of course, there's a fair share of blame to go around after another overall failure in New York, making it a full decade without a championship appearance — and three without capturing Lord Stanley.
But one person who is shouldering none of that is Igor Shesterkin, who did everything he could to keep this series close.
Igor Shesterkin stood on his head
Before we get to the players most to blame for the Rangers demise, Shesterkin needs to be shouted out for his exceptional play throughout the six games. If you watched this series, it's not hard to conclude that the Panthers were the better team for most of it. And the Russian, after one of his weaker regular-seasons, was New York's best player.
The Rangers were outshot 202-151 in the series, including a lopsided 468-372 deficit in shot attemps. They just didn't seem to have the puck for long stretches, and it showed up on the scoresheet — New York only scored 12 goals in the series. That's just not good enough over six games, and Shesterkin was brilliant to make sure that this series even went to a Game 6.
The Blueshirts won two overtime games in the series — in both Game 2 at Madison Square Garden and Game 3 at Amerant Bank Arena — which helped make the series a lot closer than it looked on paper. Where New York simply needed more was from its offense, and that begins and ends with the big three: Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin.
Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider were neutralized by Panthers
Zibanejad and Kreider were excellent against both the Capitals and Hurricanes in Rounds 1 and 2, respectively. The former put together four straight multi-point games, and finished with 14 points over 10 games. The latter added 10 points of his own, including an insane third period natural hat-trick in Game 6 against the Hurricanes, all but locking up a second trip to the East Final in three years for the Blueshirts.
But against the Panthers, Zibanejad and Kreider looked like completely different players. Both were held without a point in five of the six games in the series, which is simply unacceptable. The Swede found the American for a shorthanded goal in the second period of Game 5, and both assisted on Alexis Lafreniere's late goal in the same game to cut into a Florida lead.
But it was too little too late for the Rangers top line, which completely disappeared in the Eastern Conference Final. Even with Alex Wennberg elevated to the 1RW slot instead of Jack Roslovic, they just couldn't get anything going. And that was a key reason why the squad only averaged 2.0 goals per game in the series. Needless to say, it just wasn't good enough from the two star players.
Rangers needed more from Artemi Panarin
Much of the same can be said for Artemi Panarin, who shaved his head after a brutal 2023 postseason and followed it up with a career-best regular-season. The Breadman led the Rangers in scoring by a mile in 2023-24, amassing 49 goals and 120 points in 82 games. And he was solid in the first two rounds as well, picking up 11 points.
Although the Russian superstar got better and better as the series went along, he scored his only goal with less than two minutes left in Game 6. Like Zibanejad and Kreider, Panarin put on a disappearing act in the Eastern Conference Final, finishing with three assists and four points in the series. Obviously, for a player making over $11 million per year, that's just not good enough.
Panarin finished with just one goal in the last nine games of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs after adding four tallies in his first seven games, the highlight being an electric overtime winner against the Hurricanes in Game 3. Although he finished the postseason with 15 points in 16 games, his play will again be under scrutiny in the Big Apple this offseason.
Of course, it's a devastating result for the President's Trophy winners, who were firmly in Stanley Cup or bust territory in 2024. But this team still has time left to contend for a championship with its current core, and backstopped by one of the world's best goalies, the Rangers should be back competing for a Stanley Cup next year.
