Rangers again can’t come up with crucial goal in Game 5 against Panthers

NEW YORK -- One goal.

All season long the New York Rangers have found a way to get it. Even if they didn't like their game, they still somehow found it and won anyway. It's been their magic trick, the kind of sorcery that would have you believe they are that team of destiny this season.

Maybe the magic has worn off.

The Rangers haven't found that goal in two straight games, and the team of destiny is now the team on the brink of elimination.

"Just a little bit off," defenseman Jacob Trouba said. "That's the difference."

It was the Florida Panthers who found that one goal in overtime of Game 4 and then in the third period of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.

Anton Lundell gave the Panthers the lead at 10:22 of the third period and Sam Bennett's empty-net goal at 18:08 wound up being the game-winner in a 3-2 victory.

The Panthers lead the best-of-7 series 3-2. The Rangers’ season could end as soon as Saturday, when they play Game 6 at Amerant Bank Arena (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS, CBC).

"I think there are looks," center Mika Zibanejad said. "We have the best goalie and they have a very good goalie as well. There's been chances. They haven't gone in. But you can't let that affect you, just go on to the next game."

The Rangers were better in Game 5 than they were in Games 3 and 4 in Florida. All that does is add to the frustration of not getting that one goal.

They won Game 3 on Alex Wennberg's overtime goal, but that was one of those games that felt like it was a result of that magic mentioned earlier because they were not the better team. Florida dominated for long stretches, but New York still scored five goals.

The Rangers couldn't find that goal in Game 4. Instead, it was Sam Reinhart scoring on the power play 1:12 into overtime for a 3-2 win.

But Game 5 was at home and the Rangers came out like the assertive, aggressive team they need to be. They controlled a lot of the first period. They didn't score and neither did the Panthers, but that was the type of hockey they didn't play nearly enough of in Florida.

Then they connected on a short-handed goal 2:04 into the second period, Chris Kreider scoring off a pass from Zibanejad. The two top-line, star players on the Rangers who had to get going, who had no points in the series, finally got going.

Just 1:39 later they were on the power play, a grand opportunity to score the big goal and take the 2-0 lead. The chance looked even better when Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola crashed into Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin.

The Rangers could have had a 5-on-3 for 1:21, but that never happened.

Erik Gustafsson went in to protect Shesterkin and took a roughing penalty on Mikkola behind the net. It was as ill-timed as it was admirable.

"At that point in the game you probably want the 5-on-3," New York coach Peter Laviolette said. "It's understandable. There's a reaction out there. Players are in scrums, it's been a physical series the whole time, so somebody jumps in there defending the goalie. You admire that, but it's also playoff hockey too so you've got to keep things under control."

We'll never know if the Rangers would have scored on the 5-on-3, but the two-man advantage might have been exactly what their struggling power play needed to break out.

The Rangers didn't score on the 5-on-4. They went 0-for-3 on the power play. They're 1-for-14 in the series.

The power play was their bread and butter all season and through the early part of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It delivered so many big goals, so many in one-goal games that made the difference in wins.

It isn't now.

"Close isn't cutting it," defenseman Adam Fox said. "We have to capitalize on those chances. Big spots. We have some looks. You don’t win games based on getting looks. You have to capitalize."

Gustav Forsling did for Florida at 8:21 of the second period, tying the game 1-1.

The Panthers pushed early in the third. The Rangers had another power play that went nowhere for them at 6:58, and when Lundell had a chance on a 3-on-2 he scored at 10:22 to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead.

"I thought we had some chances to make it 2-1 before that happened, and then they scored a 2-1 goal," Zibanejad said. "Then we're trying to chase that game-tying goal."

Didn't happen.

Bennett scored into the empty net to make it 3-1 with 1:52 left.

Oh sure, Alexis Lafrenière got one back to make it 3-2, a deflection of Zibanejad's shot for a 6-on-5 goal at 19:10, but that wasn't the one goal the Rangers needed.

The one goal they needed never came. It didn't in Game 4 either.

"Every game has been super close like that," Kreider said.

Game 6 could be too.

One goal could be the difference.

The Rangers have to get it.

They need the magic back.