3 Keys: Rangers at Panthers, Game 6 of Eastern Conference Final

(1M) Rangers at (1A) Panthers

Eastern Conference Final, Game 6

Florida leads best-of-7 series 3-2

8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS, CBC

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Florida Panthers are one win away from reaching the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight season. They can get it Saturday in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final against the New York Rangers at Amerant Bank Arena.

The Panthers, who lost in the Cup Final to the Vegas Golden Knights last season, have won the past two games; 3-2 in overtime in Game 4 here on Tuesday and 3-2 in regulation at Madison Square Garden on Thursday to take the 3-2 lead in the series.

New York won Games 2 and 3.

The past four games have all been decided by one goal.

Florida is 3-1 all-time in Game 6 when leading 3-2 in a best-of-7 series.

"You don't want to look ahead to the Stanley Cup Final, but it gives you a little extra jump going into a game, I think that's always welcome," Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues said. "I think it's good for you. You're not looking ahead to that, but if you can tell yourself, 'Hey, you win this game and we're in the Stanley Cup Final,' I don’t think that’s a negative thing to use that as motivation to get you going for the game."

The Rangers are facing elimination for the first time this postseason. They swept the Washington Capitals in the first round and needed six games to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round.

New York is 12-16 all-time when facing elimination in Game 6.

"We have to embrace this," Rangers center Vincent Trocheck said. "I've said it multiple times, winning the Stanley Cup is not supposed to be easy and it's these kinds of moments that really form a team into a team that can become a championship team. So, I think going into it we just have to not take for granted the position we're in and not take for granted the opportunity we have in front of us."

New York won Game 6 in the first round last season against the New Jersey Devils before losing Game 7. It went 2-1 when facing elimination in Game 6 during the 2022 playoffs.

"I think you can definitely draw from previous experiences, but at the same time this is a different team, different coaches," Rangers forward Barclay Goodrow said. "Throughout this year there's been times, you've seen all the comeback games we've had throughout the year, that you can see how resilient we are. We're a confident group. With our backs against the wall, that's going to bring it out even more."

In NHL history, teams that lead a best-of-7 series 3-2 hold an all-time record of 251-197 in Game 6.

"You're not going to be gripping the stick too tight, there's nothing to be nervous about," Panthers center Sam Bennett said. "It's just another game. Obviously it's a big one and we're going to come out flying, but there's no reason to grip our sticks tonight."

Here are 3 keys to Game 6:

1. Power play mojo

The power play was one of the Rangers’ greatest sources of strength through the regular season (26.4 percent) and the first six games of the playoffs (40.0 percent).

It has been one of their most glaring issues since Game 3 of the second round against the Hurricanes, and especially in this series against Florida.

The Rangers are 8.3 percent (2-for-24) on the power play in their past nine games, including 7.1 percent (1-for-14) in the conference final.

Not surprisingly, their goals per game in the playoffs dropped from 3.83 in their first six games to 2.56 in their past nine, including 2.20 against Florida.

A turnaround on the power play in Game 6 could lead to a Game 7.

"[In Game 5] we were in zone, we did generate four or five quality chances, we did generate 13 attempts at the net, so it's not like we're sitting there and we're completely stymied by it," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. "We just haven't scored. We need to score."

2. Wearing them out

The Panthers have dominated after the second period in three straight games, leading to wins in Games 4 and 5.

They outshot the Rangers 13-6 and won Game 5 in the third period on Anton Lundell's goal at 10:22 and Sam Bennett's empty-net goal at 18:08. Alexis Lafrenière scored for New York at 19:10 to make it 3-2.

Florida outshot the Rangers 15-5 between the third period and the 72-second overtime in Game 4. Lafreniere had the only goal in the third to make it 2-2, but Sam Reinhart scored on the power play in overtime to give the Panthers the 3-2 win.

The Panthers were also down 4-2 going into the third in Game 3, but scored twice and outshot the Rangers 13-4. Alex Wennberg won it in overtime for New York.

Overall, the Panthers have outscored opponents 23-10 in the third period in the playoffs; the Rangers have been outscored 15-13.

In what figures to be another tight game, Florida's third-period dominance could go a long way.

"I think it's part of our game, wearing the other team down, kind of playing a hard, defense-first mentality and just kind of wearing teams down and capitalizing on their mistakes," Rodrigues said. "It seems like we just get better and better as the game goes on. We start to feel more and more comfortable, and I think we've done a really good job of building in most games."

3. Ranger rewind

The stats from NHL EDGE are telling for why this series flipped in favor of the Panthers after the Rangers had a 2-1 lead.

The Panthers have a 28-11 advantage in high-danger shots on goal in the past two games, including 17-6 in Game 5. Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin stopped 25 of them, but considering the volume it's not all that surprising that they wound up one goal better in both with 3-2 wins.

But the Rangers had a 23-19 advantage in high-danger shots on goal in the first three games, including 17-15 in Games 2 and 3, the two they won.

New York hasn't needed as many high danger shots on goal to beat Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. It scored on four of 10 in Game 3, but the Rangers have to be better in that area in Game 6 to have the best chance of forcing Game 7.

Rangers projected lineup

Chris Kreider -- Mika Zibanejad -- Filip Chytil

Artemi Panarin -- Vincent Trocheck -- Alexis Lafreniere

Jack Roslovic -- Alex Wennberg -- Kaapo Kakko

Will Cuylle -- Barclay Goodrow -- Jonny Brodzinski

Ryan Lindgren -- Adam Fox

K'Andre Miller -- Braden Schneider

Erik Gustafsson -- Jacob Trouba

Igor Shesterkin

Jonathan Quick

Scratched: Zac Jones, Chad Ruhwedel, Matt Rempe, Adam Edstrom, Blake Wheeler, Alex Belzile, Brett Berard, Anton Blidh, Ben Harpur, Dylan Garand, Jake Leschyshyn, Connor Mackey, Victor Mancini, Brennan Othmann, Tyler Pitlick, Matthew Robertson, Brandon Scanlin, Adam Sykora

Injured: Jimmy Vesey (upper body)

Panthers projected lineup

Carter Verhaeghe -- Aleksander Barkov -- Sam Reinhart

Matthew Tkachuk -- Sam Bennett -- Evan Rodrigues

Eetu Luostarinen -- Anton Lundell -- Vladimir Tarasenko

Steven Lorentz -- Kevin Stenlund -- Kyle Okposo

Gustav Forsling -- Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola -- Brandon Montour

Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Dmitry Kulikov

Sergei Bobrovsky

Anthony Stolarz

Scratched: Ryan Lomberg, Nick Cousins, Tobias Bjornfot, Uvis Balinskis, Josh Mahura, Jonah Gadjovich, Spencer Knight, Rasmus Asplund, Mike Benning, Magnus Hellberg, Matt Kiersted, William Lockwood, Mackie Samoskevich, Justin Sourdif

Injured: None

Status report

Brodzinski is expected to make his series debut in place of Rempe, who stayed on the ice at the morning skate with the other scratches. Rempe, a forward, played 2:43 in Game 5. Brodzinski also worked on the second power-play unit at the morning skate. … Wheeler, a forward, was not on the ice Saturday morning. … The Panthers are keeping their lineup the same for the third consecutive game.