ECF ouster not ‘special’ ending Rangers expected

SUNRISE, Fla. — The New York Rangers didn’t see this end coming.

They were the Presidents’ Trophy winners on the strength of a 114-point regular season. They breezed by the Washington Capitals and defeated the Carolina Hurricanes handily to reach an Easten Conference final against the Florida Panthers.

But that’s where it all fell apart for the Rangers, who lost 2-1 in Game 6 of their series on Saturday night, eliminated from the postseason in the third round for the second time in three seasons.

“What we built as a team here, it just felt special this year,” Rangers captain Jacob Trouba said. “It felt like we had something in this room. It was a bond. [It’s] probably too soon to elaborate more.”

Trouba, in particular, came under fire for his performance on Saturday. New York’s rugged defenseman misread a play at his team’s blue line late in the first period, allowing Evan Rodrigues to feed Sam Bennett for Florida’s opening score.

That was Bennett fourth goal in the series, tying teammate Matthew Tkachuk‘s franchise record for most markers in a conference final in Panthers’ history. His three-game goal streak also tied a Panthers playoff record.

Trouba’s slow reaction contributed to the Rangers being in an early deficit they never overcame. Vladimir Tarasenko scored his first goal of the conference final — against the veteran’s former team to boot — midway through the third period to give Florida a 2-0 lead.

By the time Artemi Panarin notched his first of the series — with New York having already pulled goalie Igor Shesterkin — there was just 1:39 remaining. Too little, too late from one of the Rangers’ stars who had failed when it mattered most.

It wasn’t just Panarin, though. Mika Zibanejad didn’t score against Florida. He and Chris Kreider — who had one short-handed tally in the series — combined for only three shots in Game 6. And while Panarin broke through eventually, his line with Vincent Trocheck — who led the Rangers in postseason points with 20 — and Alexis Lafreniere were stymied by the Panthers all night.

New York lost on Saturday its third straight game by a single goal. Shesterkin’s excellence — he posted a .935 save percentage and a 2.25 goals-against average in the series — simply wasn’t enough to continually overcome the Rangers’ inability to get pucks past the Panthers.

“[After] one-goal games, you think about every little play, every missed opportunity, every mistake,” defenseman Adam Fox said. “It hurts. When games are that tight, it sits with you, every little play you maybe could’ve done differently.”

Shesterkin earned accolades from both dressing rooms following the loss, and Florida’s coach Paul Maurice compared the goalie’s showing to a legendary run from the NHL’s Hart Trophy winner in 2002.

“I haven’t seen a series by a goaltender like that since [former Montreal Canadiens goaltender] Jose Theodore in 2002,” Maurice said. “He was brilliant in this series. He was pretty good.”

It was the rest of New York’s lineup not providing enough backup. The Rangers never found the right formula to rattle Florida. And New York’s momentum-sucking power play didn’t help matters. The Rangers were 0-for-1 with the extra man in Game 6 and 1-for-15 in the series, a long drop from the club which held the league’s third-best power play in the regular season (26.4%) and entered the series even better (at 29.7% in the playoffs).

New York stumbled too often. And there was no comeback magic left in the Rangers — despite them having earned an NHL-record 34 come-from-behind victories in the regular season and six more in the postseason.

“They got to their game more consistently,” Kreider said. “They were dialed in on what they were doing.”

The loss could signal changes for the Rangers. It’s an unsettling feeling for New York to sit with given the promise of this season and how swiftly it ended with a thud.

“The culture we built here, the camaraderie, that’s something we’re going to have to turn over,” Fox said. “It sucks to think this year is over, but what we built is strong.”

New York hoped to be heading home for a Game 7. Instead it will return with unanswered questions about what’s next.

“Our guys fought this year; they bought in right from the start,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “We make it to this point and it’s disappointing. When you start something like this … you do it to go the whole way. So there’s a disappointment right now that sets in with our group and our intentions we had throughout the year. Nobody was expecting to be on this end of it.”