This week was the start of two weeks this month, where the Panthers have four games in a week. The Rangers have been turning heads with Rempe getting into fights nearly every night. And New Jersey just let go of their head coach after what’s been a disappointing season so far for them. Florida’s on a four game win streak coming into this week. The team expects playoff-style hockey from the Rangers and will need to be on their toes defensively against the Devils’ speed. The Panthers are fighting for 1st in the NHL and want to be playing some of their best hockey of the season.
New York Rangers:
The two eastern division leaders were set for an intense matchup on Monday night. The Rangers rookie Matt Rempe has been turning heads since his debut for the sheer number and frequency of fights he’s already gotten into, five fights in 8 games. With both teams quick to drop gloves, this match would likely have plenty of hostility to go around. Bobrovsky was back in the net for the Panthers, with Bennett’s line starting the forwards and Mikkola-Montour for the defensemen; Shesterkin was in the crease for the Rangers. Florida’s the NHL’s best road team at the moment with 21 road wins, and we were expecting this game to feel like a playoff game. After missing the last two matches, Gadjovich was back, and his line was matched up with Rempe’s. The Rangers got o-zone time first, testing Bob early, but he made the saves. Bennett got the Cats first shot, but it got tipped high, and Ekblad’s got glove saved. Bob made another save with 15:15 to go before Verhaeghe had words with an official for an icing call because he thought he got to the puck in time. A collision happened at the Rangers’ bench with OEL and Goodrow; Goodrow was on top of OEL. However, the refs didn’t blow a whistle to stop play until way after the collision occurred. The first half of the period was mostly back and forth, with only eight shots total between the two teams. Following a small stint of net-front chaos, Tkachuk and Panarin got into a fight, but no penalties were called. OEL, Rodrigues, and Luostrainen all had shots that got blocked or went wide. Tkachuk took a hard hit from Fox that sent him to the ice, and as always, all the Panthers players were quick to retaliate. However, it was Tkachuk who ended up with the roughing penalty after he’d joined the scrap toward the end of it. With 5:21 on the clock, the Cats PK went to work, starting with Reinhart walking it in deep. Barkov and Reinhart then got a breakaway attempt, but the shot was saved. Bob made a great save with Luostrainen and Kulikov both getting clears to just kill off the PP. Unfortunately, it didn’t matter, Cuylie scored for the Rangers just as the power play ended with a shot through traffic and Bob losing track of the rebound. The PK went straight back to it with Stenlund going to the box for holding and 2:45 left to play. The penalty killing was sharp as Ekblad, Reinhart, and Luostrainen all cleared the zone at one point, and Barkov both broke up passes and blocked a shot. Bob’s glove saved a shot as the power play ended. A power play for the Cats started with 37 seconds left as Edstrom got called for interference. Verhaeghe and Tkachuk both got shots off, but they were saved, and Bob made a save on a shorty chance as the period ended. A 0-1 lead for the Rangers headed into the second period.
Barkov’s first shot of the period hit the post, Tkachuk & Verhaeghe’s both got saved, and the Rangers killed the penalty. In the first 4 minutes of the period, both teams had had o-zone time. Each team got a breakaway chance but both shots went high, the Florida bench was unhappy with the refs as they felt that Bennett was tripped. A fight between Cousins and Lindgren escalated to a full-team fight with 13:55 on the clock; No penalties were called for either side. Florida got its second power play when Barkov got tripped by Trouba with 13:02 to go. OEL, Ekblad, and Barkov all had their shots blocked while Verhaeghe’s went wide. New York got a shorty chance that Bob saved before the penalty got killed off. Florida went straight back to the power play, with Rempe getting called for tripping and 10:42 left in the period. An absolutely insane play by Barkov showed him juggling the puck twice before somehow getting a pass to Reinhart, who buried it into the net to tie the game. That gives Reinhart 25 PP goals and 43 goals on the season. It also puts Reinhart in 3rd place on the Panthers’ single-season highest goals list, right above Carter Verhaeghe. Over the midway point, the Cats had held the Rangers to just 4 SOG during the period before Bob made a save with 7:53 to play. Reinhart then gave Florida the lead with a give-and-go pass from Barkov before he took the shot to score, 2-1 lead with 7:03 left. A minute later, Lundell got called for a high-sticking double minor. Bob made saves early during the 4-minute power play. It was Kreider who tied the game up at 2-2, scoring within the first half of the double minor. The PK tightened up and got more zone clearings to kill off the second half of the double minor. The Lundell line put in a good shift at the end of the period getting two shot attempts from Lundell and one from OEL. Tkachuk took one final shot as the buzzer sounded but it got saved, the game was tied 2-2 after 40 minutes.
Florida held the offensive zone time early before Bob made a save on a New York shot that got deflected. Luostrianen and Rodrigues both had chances that got saved. The opening 4 minutes was all Florida in the O-zone. Ekblad and Barkov were the next Panthers to get a shot chance but no goal reward. Lundell quickly cleared the Panthers’ zone to give Lomberg and Gadjovich both shot chances that got saved. Lomberg got another attempt, and that one found the back of the net. He came in with a lot of speed and used a Ranger player as a screen before he sent his shot toward the goal from the top of the faceoff circle. Florida gets the lead back 3-2 and 13:49 to go in the period. The Cats’ defense was stifling New York by breaking up passes in the neutral zone or near the blue line and was keeping the Rangers to just 1 SOG through the first 8 minutes of the 3rd. The Rangers would finally get a little bit of offensive pressure near the midway point of the period, with Bob making great saves to keep Florida ahead. The Panthers were forcing turnovers in the neutral zone leading to quick transition and more time in the Rangers’ zone for the offense. Montour had a couple of shots get saved and blocked. Bob made a big save and Ekblad was there to help cover the rebound opportunity. Cousins and Bennett both made defensive plays, blocking shots from the Rangers, while Reinhart had a good forecheck to pressure them. Lundell finally cleared the zone. With just under 4 minutes Florida focused on picking off passes to walk pucks deep into the New York zone and hold it there. Barkov and Forsling both broke up passes and converted them to a scoring chance. Significant pressure from New York came for the first time with 3 minutes left in the period. However, Florida was keeping things close enough to the neutral zone or the Rangers zone that New York struggled to pull Shesterkin must like Buffalo last week. The Rangers were finally able to pull the goalie with 1:26 to play, and about 35 seconds later, Lundell used his speed to beat out a Rangers player to get to the puck first and score the empty netter for the 4-2 lead. New York took its timeout, ultimately deciding to pull Shesterkin again with less than a minute to go. It didn’t make a difference as Florida ran out the clock for their first regulation victory at Madison Square Garden in seven years, 4-2 the final score. Bobrovsky’s now had 11 straight games of allowing 2 goals or less. The Panthers won’t have much time to celebrate Monday night’s victory as they face New Jersey on Tuesday.
New Jersey Devils:
The second night of the back-to-back brought Florida to New Jersey. The Devils recently fired their head coach and have Travis Green serving as the Interim Head Coach. This season has been a far cry from the Devils playoff season last year. That doesn’t mean that they should be underestimated, as there’s still plenty of talent on the roster, and the forwards boast a lot of speed. Stolarz got the start in the net for Florida, Bennett’s line started the forwards, and Mikkola-Montour were the starting defensive pair; Schmid was in the net for the Devils. New Jersey got a shot to Stolarz early before things settled into a back-and-forth in the opening minutes. Things didn’t stay scoreless for long as Nick Cousins broke the ice off a touch pass from Tkachuk and a backhanded shot over the shoulder of Schmid. NJ responded with an offensive push, but Stolarz got a piece of the shot, and Ekman-Larsson cleared the puck off the goal line after it had bounced off his skate. The first power play of the night was awarded to Florida after a delay of game penalty was called with 15:13 on the clock. The Cats would convert their first PP into a 2-0 lead off a one-timer shot from Rodrigues, who did his best Sam Reinhart impression. Rodrigues was set up in the slot and got a quick pass from Tkachuk before he shot to score with 13:30 left to play. At the midway point of the period, the Panthers had held the Devils to just 1 SOG before they finally got some offensive chances. Stolarz made a couple of great saves, one through traffic and one through some chaos in front of the net. A tripping call on Stenlund sent New Jersey to its first powerplay with 9:28 to play. Forsling blocked a shot, Barkov cleared, and Lundell blocked a shot. Unfortunately, the defense would be in vain as Jack Hughes got a lucky bounce off Forsling that went into the net to cut the lead to one, 2-1 with 8:15 to go. Forsling was an unintentional screen on Stolarz and prevented him from making a save on the shot. Forsling got taken down leading to a delayed penalty, Ekblad and Gadjovich both got shots off before NJ got possession to trigger the power play. With 6:34 on the clock, MacDermid went to the box for roughing. The man advantage didn’t last long, however, as Reinhart got called for tripping; they’d play 4v4 for 1:10 before a Devil’s power play. Both the 4v4 and Jersey power play got killed off with under 5 minutes to play. A late offensive push got shots from Verhaeghe, Ekblad, and Montour, but none found the back of the net. After 20 minutes, Florida held the advantage in shots (11-4), blocked shots (7-3), and hits (4-2), while New Jersey was better in the faceoff circle (6-13). The Cats lead 2-1 going into the first intermission.
Once again, the Devils pushed offensively first, testing Stolarz early in the 2nd period. Florida responded with offensive pressure, getting shots from Luostarinen, Lundell, and Lomberg. Stolarz made a couple of big saves at 18:01 and 17:48, the Devils came out with more energy this period. Another offensive push from the Cats saw Verhaeghe and Lomberg get shots toward the goal. Lomberg went to the box for tripping with 11:15 on the clock. Stolarz made a save early, Ekblad cleared the zone, and then Stolarz and the defense saved a shot that would’ve had an open net to go in. The penalty killed a couple of chances for the Devils. Meier tied things up with 8:57 to go, scoring off a shot right off the faceoff. The tie didn’t last long, though; Kulikov fed the puck to Luostrainen, who scored a minute and a half later. His shot beat Schmid on the glove side and was taken from near the top of the faceoff circle, 3-2 lead for the Panthers. Stenlund took a shot that got deflected, but it deflected into one of the officials and hit him in the chest. The official ended up all right after going down for a bit. Once play resumed, things went back and forth on the ice, and neither side got significant zone time. Both teams got shot chances late in the period, but no other goals were scored. Florida leaves the period with a 3-2 advantage. After 40 minutes of play, the Panthers had the advantage in shots (20-17), blocked shots (15-7), hits (6-5), and the Devils had the advantage in faceoffs (21-26).
New Jersey opened the 3rd period with a breakaway chance from Jack Hughes. The play developed quickly, and the shot hit the post. Gadjovich and Lomberg got a two-on-one chance, but the shot was tipped wide, followed by Cousins’ shot deflecting wide, and OEL’s getting cover saved, 16:42 to go. Forsling was the next Panther to get a shot chance, and it got tipped in by Cousins for a 4-2 lead five and a half minutes into the period. Tkachuk got the secondary assist, bringing his season total to a team-leading 50. The offensive pressure didn’t let up from the Cats as Verhaeghe, Kulikov, and Rodrigues all took shots that got saved. New Jersey finally got a shot to Stolarz midway through the period. Luke Hughes got another shot through that Stolarz saved, but it would be Miller who once again brought the deficit back to 1 as he scored on a shot through traffic from the blue line, 4-3 the Florida lead. Things went back and forth once again with 4 minutes on the clock. Luostrainen blocked a Devils shot, and then Stolarz saved another one. NJ pulled the goalie with a minute and a half to play. OEL broke up a dangerous play from the Devils, and then Stolarz made his biggest save of the night with 45.2 seconds left. Schmid got pulled again after the faceoff in the Jersey zone. Ekblad took a shot that got blocked, but Reinhart picked up the rebound and scored an empty netter with 8 seconds left in the period. Time ran out, and the Panthers picked up another 2 points and a 5-3 win over the Devils. That’s a clean sweep on the road trip, and now the Cats head back home to play the Fliers and Calgary to round out this week.
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