NEW YORK – It’s a best-of-three series now.
With the Eastern Conference Final tied 2-2, the Florida Panthers will try to gain an edge when they visit the New York Rangers for Game 5 at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.
In the first two games of the series, the Panthers surrendered just two goals on the road against New York.
“Now it’s a best-of-three series,” Panthers forward Anton Lundell said. “We’re just going to go game by game. We can play on the road, too. That’s not a problem.”
Trailing 2-1 in the series after dropping Games 2 and 3 in overtime, the Panthers pulled even when the extra frame finally went their way in Game 4 at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday.
Sent to the power play after Aleksander Barkov was hooked on a breakaway less than a minute into overtime, Sam Reinhart, who led the NHL with a career-high 27 goals on the power play in the regular season, buried a one-timer from the slot to lock in the 3-2 win.
Over the second and third periods, the Panthers led 88-17 in shot attempts.
“I thought in the second and third, we came out moving the puck, skating well, creating a lot of chances,” Panthers defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson said. “That’s something that we want to bring into tonight’s game.”
Finding a way to do some damage against New York’s penalty kill, the Panthers have scored with the man advantage in each of the last three games, going 5-for-12 (41.7%). Of those goals, three have come from Reinhart, with the other two belonging to Carter Verhaeghe.
In Game 4, the Panthers scored two of their three goals on the power play, and arguably can credit their first goal of the game to special teams as well as Sam Bennett’s goal that tied the game 1-1 squeaked through Igor Shesterkin’s pads just as a power play expired.
Reinhart and Verhaeghe have been leading the charge up front for the Panthers as both players have lit the lamp three times in the series. Doing a lot of the set-up work, Matthew Tkachuk has a team-leading four assists in the series, while Barkov has racked up three.
With stars like Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider still in search of their first goals of the series, the Rangers have been leaning heavily on two-thirds of their second line as Alexis Lafrenière (3) and Vincent Trocheck (2) have scored five of the team’s nine goals.
Tapping into some of the talent that made him the first-overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, Lafrenière, still just 22 years old, has scored three goals over the last two games, with two of those goals coming on highlight-reel sequences that showcased his growing potential.
“If you skate and have a good stick, you can take time and space away,” Ekman-Larsson said slowing down Lafrenière. “They have a lot of good players over there to be aware of. At the same time, we’re comfortable defending one of the best teams in the league.”
New York’s biggest weapon remains Shesterkin.
If not for his play, it’s not crazy to say this could’ve been a sweep for the Panthers.
Owning an impressive .931 save percentage in the series, the former Vezina Trophy winner has made 25 high-danger saves against the Panthers. At 5-on-5, he’s turned aside 97 of 102 shots (.951%) while saving 4.34 goals above expected, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
Standing tall for the Panthers, Sergei Bobrovsky has a .910 save percentage in the series.
After being a healthy scratch in Game 4, Filip Chytil is expected to suit up for the Rangers in Game 5. Missing the majority of the regular season after suffering a concussion in early November, Chytil has appeared in five games for the Rangers during the playoffs.
With Chytil coming back in, Blake Wheeler could be the odd man out for New York.
The Panthers will make no lineup changes.
“The desperation of finality, you can start to feel it,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. “Forty-eight hours from now, a very good team is going to be facing elimination. You can feel that. The desperation will be high for both teams.”
PANTHERS PLAYOFF LEADERS
Goals: Verhaeghe (9)
Assists: Tkachuk (14)
Points: Tkachuk (19)
Hits: Ekblad (47)
Blocks: Montour (25)
RANGERS PLAYOFF LEADERS
Goals: Trocheck (8)
Assists: Zibanejad, Trocheck (11)
Points: Trocheck (19)
Hits: Trouba (52)
Blocks: Trouba (67)
THEY SAID IT
“We’ve been doing a pretty good job [on defense]. It comes down to our gaps, our sticks and the same thing there. It’s moving our legs and taking time and space away.” – Oliver Ekman-Larsson
“We’re a very confident group. We believe in each other. We know we’re going to get the opportunities to score, so we just have to defend first.” – Gustav Forsling
"It's exciting. It's great opportunity. This building will have no lack of energy. It's going to be a fun, exciting opportunity. We're optimistic about our chances." – Aaron Ekblad
FIVE CATS STATS
- Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 52 of 54 shots in Games 1 and 2 at Madison Square Garden.
- Matthew Tkachuk has tallied a team-high 10 points (3G, 7A) on the road in the playoffs.
- The Panthers have out-shot their opponent in 13 of 15 games this postseason.
- The Panthers own a 93.3% penalty kill success rate over their last 11 games.
- Carter Verhaeghe enters tonight’s matchup riding a five-game point streak.
PROJECTED LINEUP (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Forwards
Carter Verhaeghe – Aleksander Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Matthew Tkachuk – Sam Bennett – Evan Rodrigues
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Vladimir Tarasenko
Steven Lorentz – Kevin Stenlund – Kyle Okposo
Defensemen
Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Dmitry Kulikov
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Anthony Stolarz
RECENT TRANSACTIONS:
- May 6: F Patrick Giles recalled from Charlotte (AHL)
HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN
When: Thursday, May 30 at 8 p.m. ET
Where: Madison Square Garden – New York, NY
TV & Streaming: ESPN, ESPN+
Radio: 560 WQAM (Dade/Broward); 92.1 WZZR (Palm Beach); 100.3 WCTH (Florida Keys); 101.7 WCZR (Treasure Coast); SiriusXM Channel 220 / App & Streaming 932; Panthers App
Watch Party: Funky Buddha / Baptist Health IcePlex
