SUNRISE, Fla. -- Jacob Trouba's three minor penalties in Game 3, with one resulting in a $5,000 fine from the NHL Department of Player Safety, are reminders to him and the New York Rangers about the need to strike a balance between being physical and disciplined in the Eastern Conference Final.
Trouba and the Rangers haven't had the easiest time doing that against the Florida Panthers and still, they lead the best-of-7 series 2-1 going into Game 4 at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC).
The Rangers have been called for 13 minor penalties in the series, with Trouba whistled for four of them. New York has taken 10 penalties in the past two games, including two each for roughing, holding and slashing.
The Panthers have scored three power-play goals in the past two games; the Rangers have a short-handed goal.
"I'd like to see us out of the box," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said Monday. "I'd like to see it the other way. Any coach would. Nobody likes a number that's off like that. I think there's things that we can do to stay out of the box and be better."
Trouba on Monday was fined the maximum allowable amount under the Collective Bargaining Agreement for elbowing Florida Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues at 17:32 of the second period in a 5-4 overtime win in Game 3.
The incident occurred during a delayed penalty on Trouba for slashing forward Sam Bennett. They were two of his three penalties and the Rangers' six in the game.
"We're going to have to play physical, but definitely don't want to be taking six penalties," Trouba said after an optional practice Monday. "They've got a good power play. Discipline definitely is something we're going to have to be better at, I'm going to have to be better at, but we're going to have to play a hard, physical game. That's part of what makes our team good."
Trouba said he had nothing to say about being fined for elbowing Rodrigues, a play that was reviewed for a major penalty.
"We won Game 3, move onto Game 4," Trouba said. "Don't really make much of it."
But he does make a lot of the number of penalties the Rangers are taking.
In addition to his slashing on Bennett and elbowing Rodrigues, Trouba was also called for holding Matthew Tkachuk at 14:23 of the third period and leads the playoffs with 10 minor penalties taken.
New York killed off all three of Trouba's penalties in Game 3 and even got a short-handed goal from Barclay Goodrow to go up 4-2 with the defenseman serving the first of his simultaneous minor penalties late in the second period.
The Rangers, however, didn't kill off Braden Schneider's delay of game penalty at 1:45 of the first period. Sam Reinhart scored on the power play at 2:50.
They also didn't kill Matt Rempe's roughing penalty on Reinhart at 14:07 of the first; Reinhart again scored 39 seconds into the power play.
"You're playing this team, as aggressive as it can be out there, I don't know if you'll ever walk away and not have any penalty kills," Laviolette said. "You're going to have some, but we certainly need to limit that number, reduce that number to give ourselves the best chance of being successful."
But not at the expense of playing physical, especially when it comes to Trouba.
"Listen, we need that physical presence," Laviolette said. "That's something that he brings, and he brings it all the time. We're in a physical series right now so we need guys playing hard and playing physical. He's someone we can count on to do that. There's some that I don't necessarily agree with last night that he went to the box on and it is what it is, but from what he brings to the team, for his physical presence, our group needs that. He's been consistent with it really through his whole career and we're in a series right now where we need it."
