The Rangers were not quick enough, were not hard enough, were not sharp enough and were not committed enough for a Game 1 of the conference finals. The Panthers, they were all the things that the Blueshirts were not in Wednesday’s 3-0 match at the Garden.
The Rangers were not quick enough, were not hard enough, were not sharp enough and were not committed enough for a Game 1 of the conference finals. The Panthers, they were all the things that the Blueshirts were not in Wednesday’s 3-0 match at the Garden.
All this talk about menace that preceded the Puddy Tats and it turns out that Florida’s physicality manifested itself in puck battles and in territorial battles. The Puddy Tats took advantage of Ranger carelessness to own the puck for shifts at a time below the hash marks.
There were times that the Blueshirts looked like the kid in the school yard who’d had his hat stolen and was desperately trying to intercept it as the bullies tossed it back and forth over his head.
The game was 1-0 for 39:46 from the time Matthew Tkachuk beat Igor Shesterkin from the left circle at 16:26 of the first to the time Alexis Lafreniere inadvertently deflected a Carter Verhaeghe pass past his own goaltender for 2-0 at 16:12 of the third period but it never quite seemed as if the game was in the balance.
Losing the opener of a best-of-seven is nothing over which to panic, even at home. The Panthers dropped the opener of their second-round series to the Bruins and recovered to win three straight and close out the series in six. There is forgiveness for losing an opener.
