New York Rangers centre Mika Zibandjed (93) kneels on the ice after the team’s Game 6 loss to the Florida Panthers during the Eastern Conference Finals of the NHL Hockey Stanley Cup Playoffs, Saturday, June 1, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynn Sladke)
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The Presidents Trophy is nice, new franchise records for wins (55) and points (114) are nice, but at the end of the day, the final piece of the puzzle is still missing for the New York Rangers.
The Blueshirts’ season ended late Saturday night with a 2-1 loss to the Florida Panthers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals in Sunrise, Fla. The Panthers were clearly the better team, appearing in their second straight Stanley Cup Final, and Paul Maurice’s relentless, organized squad overpowered a Rangers side that played mediocre games in the final two games of the season.
They didn’t score a goal at even strength in Games 5 and 6. Their lack of offensive prowess in five-on-five play has plagued them all season (they’ve been mediocre at best in that department), but it was made even worse in this series as their top-tier power play dried up, going just 1-of-15 successful in the six games.
Their established stars were largely absent — Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin managed just one goal each, while Mika Zibagint and Adam Fox failed to score — and you needn’t look any further to see why the Rangers failed to score more than two goals in Games 4, 5 and 6.
These struggles put even more pressure on the solid shoulders of goaltender Igor Shesterkin, who played well again but suffered an undeserved series loss. Shesterkin faced 49 more shots in the series than Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and allowed just two goals. He saved 186 of the 200 shots he faced for an impressive save percentage of .930.
Support from the defense was limited and sometimes nonexistent. That was never more evident than on the Panthers’ first goal of Game 6. Florida forward Sam Bennett picked up the puck at the Rangers’ blue line, where teammate Evan Rodriguez was just a few feet away from the left boards. Instead of playing the puck, New York defenseman Jacob Trouba inexplicably attempted a hip check on Rodriguez, which would have resulted in an interference penalty if Rodriguez had made proper contact. But an out-of-position blue line shot missed, and the Panthers played a one-two that led to Bennett smashing in a wrist shot to put the team ahead with 48.5 seconds left in the first period.
New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin (31) shakes hands with Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (right) after the team’s Game 6 victory in the Eastern Conference Finals of the NHL Hockey Stanley Cup Playoffs in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynn Sladky)
This kind of play from a player touted as a heartfelt leader is reminiscent of the laid-back play the Rangers displayed for the better part of two decades with Henrik Lundqvist in goal. A Hall of Famer, Lundqvist often led New York to playoff appearances and Eastern Conference championships, but the pieces in front of him were never enough to reach the top.
Shesterkin could suffer the same fate if general manager Chris Drury isn’t proactive in addressing it this offseason.
Simply put, the Rangers lack the “it” piece to win a championship, and it’s up to Drury to find it and step out of the shadows of a team structure that looks a lot like the one former general manager Jeff Gorton put together.
Trouba isn’t at the level of a defenseman making $8 million a year, considering his selling point is playing a physical game that toes the line of legality in the sport.
A similar argument can be made about Zibane Jr., who makes $8.5 million a year. Can he be the No. 1 center on a Stanley Cup-caliber team? Not with the way he performed in the conference finals.
Kreider, who makes $6.5 million a year, also scored an impressive hat trick in a second-round win over the Carolina Hurricanes, but left New Yorkers with a sour taste of sarcasm after scoring just one goal in the conference finals.
Perhaps Drury can learn a lesson from the Panthers, who won the 2021-22 Presidents Trophy before losing in the second round to the Tampa Bay Lightning. After the Panthers lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2021-22 season, Florida general manager Bill Zito traded leading scorer Jonathan Huberdeau and one of the team’s best defensemen, MacKenzie Weeger, to the Calgary Flames in exchange for Matthew Tkachuk, who became a key player on the team that won back-to-back conference championships.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Islanders president and general manager Lou Lamoriello has remained all too loyal to most of the players who made it to back-to-back Stanley Cup semifinals in 2020 and 2021. Over the past three years, they’ve missed the playoffs once and been eliminated in the first round twice.
But the Rangers have more offensive firepower than the Islanders. Fox and Shesterkin are generational talents at their positions. Panarin is also shaping up to be one of the most prolific playmakers in franchise history. The roster doesn’t need a shakeup, but at least one big move would be needed to shake up a team that must find a new level to meet lofty expectations.
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