The start of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs was a breeze for the New York Rangers. They won their first six games, sweeping, the Washington Capitals in Round 1 before winning the first three games against the Carolina Panthers. But, things have gotten much tougher for Peter Laviolette and his squad since.
The New York Rangers were able to close out the Hurricanes, but not before Carolina won twice. They entered the third period of Game 6 down 3-1 before some heroics from Chris Kreider.
They are now facing a stiff challenge from the Florida Panthers. New York is facing elimination heading into Game 6 on the road Saturday. The last five games have been decided by one goal, as the series has been tight.
“We need to capitalize on some of the ones (chances) that we did generate and we weren’t able to do that tonight,” Peter Laviolette said. “It was like I said, it was tight. The game was tight. I thought we had looks and I thought we had chances and they didn’t go in. Came down to one goal. So it’s a 2-1 game.”
It has been a struggle for the New York Rangers to consistently generate opportunities against a stout Panthers defense. Mika Zibanejad didn’t score his first points of the Eastern Conference Finals until Game 5 when he recorded two assists.
The short-handed goal by Kreider was his first point of the series as well. He recorded an assist on Alexis Lafreniere’s goal late in the third period as well. That is something the Rangers will need more of if they are going to push this series to a seventh game.
What will Peter Laviolette draw up for his team to pick up a road win on Saturday night? Goalie Igor Shesterkin has been excellent, but scoring has been an issue. They have scored more than two goals only once in five games after clearing the two-goal mark nine times in the playoffs before this.
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