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Kristen Shilton, ESPN NHL reporterJun 1, 2024, 11:10 PM ET
CloseKristen Shilton is a national NHL reporter for ESPN.
The New York Rangers spoke at length about delivering their “best game” to avoid elimination in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals. The Florida Panthers let their on-ice play do the talking.
The Panthers weathered an early push by the Rangers in Game 6, and dominated from there, winning the pivotal clash 2-1. Florida took advantage of New York’s lapses and never gave their opponent an inch.
It’s been the Panthers’ hallmark in this series to control the third period and they did so again by hemming New York in their own end and preventing the Rangers from establishing any offensive zone time. It was a textbook Panthers victory, complete with depth scoring (welcome to the series, Vladimir Tarasenko), strong defense and solid goaltending.
Now Florida is off to its second consecutive Stanley Cup Final — with every reason to believe this year will end with a better outcome than the last.
The Panthers are deep — with timely scoring
It’s not like Florida’s best players aren’t driving its offense — they certainly are. Carter Verhaeghe has nine goals, Sam Reinhart has eight, Matthew Tkachuk has 19 points and Aleksander Barkov has collected 17 points. Those skaters are expected to be great.
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But what’s setting Florida up so well in the postseason are the well-timed contributions they’re getting from depth skaters — Tarasenko’s goal in Game 6 against the Rangers, Anton Lundell’s game-winning goal in Game 5 of the series and Gustav Forsling’s tying score in Game 3. Before those were Evan Rodrigues’ pair of goals in Game 3 at Boston, and Steven Lorentz’s game-winner in Game 3 against Tampa Bay.
It would be easy to look at Florida’s overall totals and think the Panthers are reliant on their stars. But Florida has some sneaky-good contributors who have made the most of their moments to have an impact as surprise saviors in their own right….
Source link : https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/40259846/nhl-playoffs-2024-stanley-cup-florida-panthers-keys-takeaways-matchup-oilers-stars
Author : Kristen Shilton
Publish date : 2024-06-02 04:14:24
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