The New York Rangers took a one-game series lead to kick off the conference finals against the Florida Panthers. They gave it up. They re-took the lead. They gave it up once again.
The latest 3-2 overtime loss in Game 4, played on Tuesday, May 28, was too much for former Rangers netminder Steve Valiquette to cope with. Mostly, because the player-turned-analyst thinks New York should have been able to make game-winning changes.
“I felt like it was hard to really put your finger on something that we could’ve maybe made an adjustment in between periods to slow them down,” Valiquette said discussing the loss after Game 4 on MSG Network. “That’s a tough one to swallow.”
As a result, the Panthers’ Game 4 win split the series into a 2-2 tie. They will fight New York for the remainder of what now is a best-of-three matchup.
Rangers Fail To Take Commanding Lead
The Rangers entered Game 4 leading the series against the Panthers 2-1 after defeating their hosts in Games 1 and 3.
Vincent Trocheck‘s power-play goal 8:51 into the first period allowed New York to lead Game 4 for nearly 20 minutes. Then, in less than four, Florida flipped the script.
“When you look at the big picture, the Rangers had a good start in the first period,” Valiquette said. “They had strong five-on-five minutes in the first period and they were strong on the power play.”
Sam Bennett scored the Panthers’ 1-1 goal, followed by Carter Verhaeghe‘s power-play score to put Florida 2-1 up.
Sam Reinhart, 1:12 into overtime, nullified Rangers’ Alexis Lafreniere‘s game-tying goal in the third period.
“In the second and third period, that quickly–and in overtime–that was a full takeover [by] the best players on Florida,” Valiquette said.
Lineup Changes Not Enough for Losing Rangers
With Jimmy Vesey out injured (upper-body) and listed week-to-week, the trio of Filip Chytil, Matt Rempe, and Kaapo Kakko entered the lineup in Game 3.
Surprisingly, the Rangers ruled out Chytil for Game 4. Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette seemed to reason for that decision based on conditioning reasons.
“[Chytil] is coming back after such a long layoff, and it’s what we feel is best for him to continue to move forward for us,” Laviolette told reporters after the Game 4 loss. “You’re asking a lot for a guy that missed six months to come back in and get up to that speed. This is part of the plan for him.”
Following Vesey and Chytil’s absences, veteran Blake Wheeler played his first game for the Rangers since mid-February. However, New York fans won’t remember it gracefully. He committed an overtime penalty and 13 seconds later the Panthers scored the game-winning goal.
Laviolette shuffled some things across his lineup besides introducing Wheeler.
The Coach moved Jack Roslovic back to the right-wing across Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad in the first line. He also put rookie Will Cuylle to the left on the third line across Alex Wennberg and Kakko. Moreover, he placed Wheeler on a fourth line featuring Matt Rempe and Barclay Goodrow. Nothing worked on Tuesday.
Eventually, the Rangers scored a power-play goal after going 0-for-8 through the first three games. Florida, however, has a 5-2 advantage on special teams through four games. The Panthers have also out-attempted New York 108-43 and 89-44 in the last two games, both played in Florida.
New York will host the Panthers in Games 5 and 7 (if necessary) with the Panthers hosting Game 6 in a match that could unveil the Eastern Conference finalist.
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