Rangers not ‘best version’ of themselves in Game 1 loss to Panthers

NEW YORK -- The New York Rangers scored more goals on Igor Shesterkin than they did on Sergei Bobrovsky in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final.

It was that kind of night offensively for the Rangers, a night of not enough quantity or quality, and one unlucky bounce.

"Our whole entire game has to be a lot better," Rangers forward Chris Kreider said.

The Panthers' game was just good enough to win 3-0 at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-7 series.

They got a goal from Matthew Tkachuk at 16:26 of the first period, an own goal off the stick of Rangers forward Alexis Lafrenière that is credited to Carter Verhaeghe at 16:12 of the third, an empty-net goal from Sam Bennett at 18:41, and 23 saves from Bobrovsky, some marginally difficult but most not terribly challenging for a former Vezina Trophy winner and finalist this year.

"We weren't moving pucks up the ice quick enough, just playing simple, quick hockey, giving ourselves an opportunity to roll our lines, roll our forecheck," Kreider said. "It wasn't there nearly enough tonight."

Game 1 was instead a slog for the Rangers, who trail in a series for the first time this postseason.

Clean breakouts were hard to get.

Finding their way through the neutral zone was like driving into New York City rush hour traffic.

Setting up for quality looks when they did get the puck into the offensive zone was a chore.

They didn't get traffic in front of Bobrovsky. They didn't shoot enough. When they did try to put the puck on net, they struggled to get it through the layers in front of the goalie.

"I think it boils down to playing north-south hockey, getting pucks out, getting pucks in," Kreider said. "That's the kind of hockey that works this time of year and that's the kind of hockey they played."

The Rangers had five shots on goal in the first period and 12 through two periods. They put 11 shots on Bobrovsky in the third, but only seven before Lafreniere inadvertently put the puck past Shesterkin to give Florida a 2-0 lead at 16:12.

"I thought that we could have executed better," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. "Some of that I've got to give to them. Some of that we've got to take responsibility with our execution, getting pucks to areas we need to get them to. I thought we got a little bit sharper in the third period, but our execution has got to be better in the offensive zone, but also from getting out of the defensive zone through the neutral zone and then into the offensive zone."

The Panthers didn't do anything special to win Game 1 and Bobrovsky barely did anything special for a 24-save shutout, his second career shutout in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on the one-year anniversary of his first.

Florida had 27 shots on goal, six less than its per-game average through the first two rounds.

The Panthers blocked 19 shots to the Rangers’ 18.

The Rangers missed the net on 20 shots, including Braden Schneider hitting the right post on a breakaway at 17:39 of the first period and Lafreniere ringing the crossbar at 12:51 of the third.

Florida missed on 19 shots. Anton Lundell hit the crossbar on a deflection at 12:03 of the third.

The Rangers were better on special teams even though they couldn't generate a goal to win the battle. Their penalty kill was dynamite, 3-for-3 with three shots on goal against. Their power play generated some quality looks despite going 0-for-2 with four shots on goal.

But all of that only leads to frustration for the home team.

Game 1 was right there for the Rangers. It was tight, 1-0 deep into the third period, and they didn't do enough to win it, not nearly enough.

"I don't think that that was the best version of ourselves," Laviolette said. "I think there's more for us to give and more for us to do out there."

How do they do it?

That's what the Rangers will pore over before they take the ice for Game 2 at the Garden on Friday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC).

How can they get cleaner breakouts?

Are there ways to better connect passes through the neutral zone?

Do they have to sometimes just flip the puck out and get on the forecheck?

When they're in the offensive zone, how do they get more traffic on Bobrovsky?

Can they play that style for 60 minutes and rely on it working?

"I think we have a tendency to sometimes try to do a little too much when it's not there instead of just playing even, increasingly more and more simple, understanding that we're not doing a good job of getting through the neutral zone," Kreider said. "I mean, the desire is there, the want is there, but you have to work smart, not just hard."

That and you have to score more on the opponent's goalie than your own.

"We feel that we have better in us," center Mika Zibanejad said. "There's room for, not improvement, [but] to raise our level."