Rangers must keep resilient mindset to overcome Game 1 loss to Panthers
The aftermath of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals left the Rangers feeling they have, as Peter Laviolette put it, "more to give" in what could be a long series full of twists and surges, star turns and snarls.
The Florida Panthers beat the Rangers, 3-0, Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, putting the Blueshirts behind in a series for the first time in these playoffs and stealing home-ice advantage.
As beginnings go, it was a dud for the Rangers, who could not solve Florida’s forecheck and have some work to do if they want to make this series into the fiery thriller most expect.
"I think we can play better," Laviolette opined. "I don’t think that was the best version of ourselves."
"A little faster, a little crisper coming out of our zone," added Jimmy Vesey. "That will lead to more zone entries, possession, things like that. So we’ve got to turn up the speed a little bit."
As anyone who’s followed the Rangers this season knows, they’ve been resilient, answering most everything thrown at them, from a midseason malaise to a star goalie’s slump to any challenge in the race for the Presidents’ Trophy. Well, trailing Florida in this best-of-seven series, even if it is only after one game, certainly joins all that on the list of things to overcome.
All night, the Rangers struggled to move the puck out of their defensive zone, through the neutral zone and then into the offensive zone. Laviolette said some of that was the Blueshirts' responsibility and some was because of Florida’s excellence.
"They’ve been tight since the end of the season, through the playoffs," Laviolette said, referring to the Panthers’ talent for limiting opponent ice space. "They’ve played extremely tight. I thought we had opportunities that we didn’t catch them on early.
"I thought we could’ve executed better. Some of that was because of them and some of that we’ve got to take responsibility for, our execution and production, getting pucks to areas we can get to. But I think that’ll get sharper."
Let’s hope so. For long stretches Wednesday night, the Panthers seemed to control the play, which meant the early boisterous nature of the sellout crowd at the Garden dwindled at times.
"We gotta give them a little bit more reason," Laviolette admitted. "You know what I mean?"
The coach noted that when Florida had a goal overturned because of goalie interference in the third period "that put a little juice in the building. You want to pick up from there and get going."
The Rangers did create some chances in the third and, after getting outshot in each of the first two periods, they outshot Florida in the final one. But Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky turned them all away and made 23 saves over the course of the game.
"The third period was probably our best period," Laviolette said. "I thought we were slow out of the gate in the first. The second period’s tight. Third period, I thought we picked it up a little bit. We were able to generate some offense, get into the offensive zone and get some looks."
Still, it wasn’t enough. And it felt that way to the Rangers.
"A little too late," Chris Kreider said. "Yeah, we had looks. We had a few breakaways. But our whole entire game has to be a lot better."
In Friday’s Game 2, we’ll see if it is. It’ll take, as Laviolette said, "a little bit more of everything, right? A little bit more execution on exits. A little more execution through the neutral zone. A little more press offensively. A little more physicality. A little more detailed defense.
"There’s a lot of things you can do that can add up and make a difference inside of a game."
Here’s another: Lean on that trusty Ranger Resilience.
"Seven-game series," said Vesey. "We’ve been on the other side of it. Look at the last round – teams respond and push and we’ve been a team that’s responded all year and met every challenge.
"So our mindset’s no different."
