After a heartbreaker loss in Game 3, Florida looked to rebound Tuesday night and head back to Madison Square Garden with the series tied. The Panthers did just that after having a third straight game go into overtime. After the first period, the Cats did a good job at suppressing shots in the second and third periods and hemmed the Rangers into their own zone. Once again, the game was decided by special teams. The power play did its job for Florida to give them the win, with both Verhaeghe and Reinhart scoring. Once again, the Cats dominated most of the game, but Shesterkin kept the Rangers in it, which meant that regulation wasn’t enough to finish the game out. The Panthers had plenty of scoring chances that they didn’t convert, and without Shesterkin, this could’ve been a blowout win for Florida.
Florida Weathers Shesterkin:
For as much as Game 4 was an important one for the Cats, they came out flat in the first period. They looked sloppy and were not on their A-Game, which ended up costing them a goal in the first twenty minutes. Trocheck was left alone and took a shot that once again hit the crossbar and bounced in. Ekblad did get in to try and block the shot but didn’t get there in time. However, in the final two periods, the Panthers completely suppressed the Rangers’ offense, allowing just six shots on goal in the second period and five in the third period. Florida had plenty of scoring opportunities that felt like they’d go against any other goalie but Shesterkin came up with big save after big save to keep it a low-scoring game. The Panthers finally got two past him, which they had worked hard for in the second period, to take the 2-1 lead heading into the final frame of play. Bennett’s goal tied the game, he took a shot from the faceoff circle that Shesterkin got a piece of, but then it rolled into the net behind him. A couple of players whacked at the puck, but none of them made contact, giving Bennett the credit for the goal and the assists going to Gustav Forsling and Sergei Bobrovsky. Verhaeghe scored on the power play three and a half minutes later, and then Reinhart scored in overtime to win the game for the Panthers. Shesterkin has been the most frustrating puzzle the Panthers have tried to solve so far this post-season but for Game 4 they solved it enough to force a Game 6.
Special Teams The Difference Maker:
Last game it was the PK that shined, this game the PP made the difference. Both teams have a very strong penalty kill, so power play goals are hard to come by. That said, Florida made the most of it in Game 4 and went 2/4 on the man advantage. Verhaeghe scored the second goal of the night for the Cats off a puck that had jumped in the air and then bounced off a Ranger player. He batted it out of midair and straight into the net to get the lead. Tkachuk made the initial pass toward Verhaeghe before the puck ended up airborne, and Barkov got the secondary assist. Then, in overtime, Barkov drew a hooking penalty that should’ve been a penalty shot. Fortunately for the Cats, the man advantage was all they needed to end the game. With a bit of a different look to the power play, Montour made a pass to Barkov down at the goal line, who then set up Reinhart in his favorite spot, the slot, and he buried it into the net on the glove side of Shesterkin. It was a textbook play from the Panthers that got Reinhart to 27 power-play goals during the regular season, the only difference being that Montour was in on it over Tkachuk, and Barkov was placed down at the goal line.
Finished Strong:
The first period was one to forget with the lack of energy and overall sloppiness. The Panthers quickly turned it around in the second period and ended the game with significantly more O-zone time than the Rangers. Florida spent over 15 total minutes in the O-zone at the end of regulation, while New York had between eight and nine total minutes. The blocked shot disparity is pretty horrendous this game 8-28 advantage New York, but given the shot disparity over the final forty minutes and the o-zone time differential, the massive difference in blocked shots is to be expected. The Cats were blocking shots in the first period, which is where most of the blocked shots came from. The Panthers held the shot advantage, 40-23, and the faceoff advantage, 34-31. Hits were near, even with the Rangers holding the upper hand 45-48. Florida’s PK gave up its first power-play goal of the series in the first period but it also gave up a single power-play goal in the Boston series as well, it was bound to happen eventually. The quick bounce back after a bad period is nothing new for this team as it was something that was seen late in the regular season, just look at the last Dallas game or the team nearly erasing a four-goal deficit against Toronto. This Florida team is extremely mentally tough, which is something they’ll need for the rest of this series against New York. Game 5 is set for Thursday in New York for 8 pm EST/7 pm CT.
