Recap: Sykora, Shesterkin Propel Rangers Past Panthers, 3-1

Two years ago, the New York Rangers and the Florida Panthers battled it out in the Eastern Conference Finals in attempts to punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup the Panthers went on to win. Flash forward to today, both teams are out of the playoff picture by a longshot with the Rangers already being officially eliminated.

In their first meeting since the memorable Winter Classic at the start of the calendar year, the Panthers looked to keep their postseason dreams alive as much as they can while the Rangers keep their sights set on the future. Following their dominant win against the Chicago Blackhawks Friday night, the Rangers rolled with the same lineup this afternoon. 

First Period

It was a fairly back-and-forth start to this one with Jaroslav Chmelar getting one of better chances through the first half of play. Closer to the midway mark of the first, Drew Fortescue took his first professional penalty as he sent the puck over the glass for a delay of game call. With the Panthers on the power play, the Rangers were tested and Igor Shesterkin came up with some highlight reel saves to keep things locked at zero. 

Aside from that, if you missed the first period you didn’t miss much. The Rangers were skating stride for stride with the Panthers leading up to the game’s first penalty but from that point on, Florida ran away with both possession and offense. If it wasn’t for Shesterkin, the Rangers would surely be down heading into the first intermission. 

The only real spark of life came in the final thirty seconds of the period as Luke Kunin and Adam Sykora got tangled up along the boards. After a couple shoves from both parties, Kunin dropped the gloves as Sykora accepted the challenge for his first career fight at any level. While it was a short lived scrap, kudos to Sykora for dropping the gloves against a relatively tough customer. They would head to the locker room early as they’d spend the next five minutes or so of play in the box for fighting. 

That would do it for the first period as the score remained tied at zero with the Panthers out-shooting the Rangers 15-4. The Rangers won the majority of the face-offs but it was all Florida who had five high danger chances to the Rangers zero and double the amount of shot attempts (30-15). 

Second Period

The energy did not increase through the start of the middle stanza as it took about five minutes for either side to generate another shot on goal. The Rangers should have gotten their first power play of the game as the Panthers were caught in the midst of a change with way too many men on the ice along the boards but the infraction went uncalled by the officials. 

The Rangers had another good chance as Fortescue did a good job of keeping the puck in, allowing for Gabe Perreault to move the puck over to Alexis Lafrenière right in front of Florida’s net. Lafrenière’s move was almost enough to fake out Sergei Bobrovskiy but the netminder’s stick got just enough on it to knock the puck loose.

In the final two minutes of play, Tye Kartye made a nice play to try and set Conor Sheary up off the rush. As the pass made its way through, Sheary was slowed down by Dmitry Kulikov, who would be called for hooking. Florida's first penalty of the afternoon sent the Rangers to the power play and came real close to converting.

A shot from Mika Zibanejad at the point may have deflected off J.T. Miller before hitting a post and floating along the goal line. The lights went on at Madison Square Garden but the horn never sounded as play continued and the score would remain 0-0 after forty minutes of hockey. Shots after two were now 18-12 in Florida's favor as the Rangers had the slight advantage throughout the second, out-shooting the Panthers 8-3.

Third Period

What was starting off as another slow period quickly turned into the Panthers taking a short-lived lead. Carter Verhaeghe sent Matthew Tkachuk on a breakaway where he beat Shesterkin with a quick shot. The Rangers used their coaches challenge and it was quick determined that the play was offsides, bringing the score back to zero. Mike Sullivan was not too happy with the officiating at this point in the game.

Just a minute or two later, a strong shift from the Rangers resulted in a shot from Adam Fox at the point that went through traffic to find the back of the net. Upon initial glance, it was hard to tell who's goal it was but Adam Sykora jumping into the boards in celebration was quite the giveaway. That's goals in back-to-back games for Sykora who has been such a joy to watch since his recall. 1-0 Rangers.

The action picked up from there as Tkachuk had another grade-A scoring chance that Shesterkin turned away. Chmelar had another fantastic look as he made a nifty little chip pass to himself before finding Noah Laba with a no-look backhand pass. The Rangers went back to the penalty kill around the midway mark of the third as Jonny Brodzinski was sent off for slashing.

Towards the end of the kill, Miller sent Sheary on a breakaway where he beat Bobrovsky with a snap shot to extend the Rangers lead, 2-0.

It wasn't long before the Rangers were back to the penalty kill as Braden Schneider was sent off for tripping with about eight minutes to go. The Rangers continued to find success shorthanded as they held the Panthers off. With five minutes to go, Florida pulled Bobrovsky for the extra attacker and after Shesterkin attempted to go for it, Adam Fox sent the puck all the way down to pick up the empty-net goal, making it a 3-0 game.

Shesterkin's shutout would be spoiled in the final minute of the game as a shot from Mackie Samoskevich took a crazy bounce off Will Borgen's stick and bounced up and over the Rangers' net minder, making it a 3-1 final. Despite the garbage time goal, it was a fantastic night for Igor Shesterkin who stopped all but one of Florida's 28 shots.

The Rangers are back at it next week as they'll host the New Jersey Devils Tuesday Night for the season finale of the Hudson River Rivalry.