In the heat of the Game 6 battle between the New York Rangers and the Florida Panthers, the most unexpected character made a flash live appearance and flexed on everybody.
During a play stoppage approaching the end of the first period, ESPN’s on-ice reporter Emily Kaplan went to interview Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette, and a young fan in the stands, right behind both coach and reporter, found the perfect moment to show his muscles to the world.
“How about this guy behind us?” Laviolette asked in response to Kaplan after containing himself for a while.
“He likes the interview more than you do!” Kaplan answered back.
With the game still scoreless by the time the interview aired, it was all fun on the bench and the ice for the Rangers. Things, however, would soon take a turn for the bad with Florida taking the lead with 50 seconds left in the first frame.
The Panthers doubled their lead in the third period with a goal by former Rangers winger Vladimir Tarasenko. They only allowed one goal (by Artemi Panarin at the 18:20 mark) to New York before sending the Rangers home.
Florida is back in the Stanley Cup Final after making it there last season before falling to the Vegas Golden Knights and failing to win the first championship in franchise history. This year, the Panthers will face the winner of the series between the Dallas Stars and the Edmonton Oilers.
Peter Laviolette Explains Alex Wennberg’s New Role
Kaplan’s interview was meant to let fans watching on TV inside the Rangers coach’s mind regarding his team’s lineup for Game 6.
Laviolette shuffled his forward lines and placed Alex Wennberg (who has featured exclusively in the third line since the Rangers traded for him in March) in the top line’s right wing across Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider.
“Puck always seems to be on his stick,” Laviolette told Kaplan in Game 6, regarding Wennberg’s new role. “He’s got speed to his game. He can make the next play. Maybe feed Mika a little bit more, get him to shoot more pucks.”
Before Game 6, Zibanejad had yet to score a goal for the Rangers through his last 10 playoff games this year.
Zibanejad couldn’t break the drought on Saturday, failing to score for the 11th consecutive game and not having more chances until next season following New York’s elimination at the hands of Florida.
Rangers’ New Lineup Not Enough To Beat Panthers
Moving Wennberg up to the first forward line was only one of Laviolette’s changes for Game 6 trying to spark a reaction from his team, something that ultimately didn’t quite happen.
Laviolette was forced to scratch Blake Wheeler (illness) for Game 6. The coach also made rookie Matt Rempe a healthy scratch, instead choosing Jonny Brodzinski as his 12th forward.
While the line featuring Artemi Panarin-Vincent Trocheck–Alexis Lafreniere remained the same, the top line featured an unheard-of trio featuring WEnnberg, Kreider, and Zibanejad. That meant moving Jack Roslovic (the usual first-line right winger) to the fourth line.
The third forward line in Game 6 included Filip Chytil in the middle, Barclay Goodrow on the left side instead of playing center, and Kaapo Kakko on the right. The bottom-three line included Roslovic, Brodzinski, and rookie Will Cuylle.
According to Natural Stat Trick, all Rangers’ forward lines except the new top three (the one featuring Wennberg) out-attempted the Panthers in Game 6 on even-strength play, so it’s fair to say the changes worked for the most part.
Rangers Drop Conference Finals 4-2 to the Panthers
At the end of the day, all similarities with the 1994 Stanley Cup run vanished in thin air. All Rangers were reasonably upset after the final horn sounded in Sunrise, FL, sealing New York’s loss and delaying their conquer of the chalice for, at least, 31 years since they last lifted it.
“Our guys fought this year. They bought in right from the start,” coach Laviolette said during his postgame press conference on June 1. “We make it to this point and it’s disappointing. When you start something like this, you don’t do it to get three wins in the playoffs, or five wins in the playoffs. You do it to go the whole way.
“So there’s a disappointment right now that sets in with our group and our intentions we had throughout the course of the year. Nobody was expecting to be on this end of it. You are expecting to come in here tonight, win a hockey game, and bring it back to MSG for a Game 7. So there is a disappointment that comes with that.”
“First place in the league all year,” Fox said addressing the media after the Game 6 loss. “Obviously, we thought we could win the whole thing. Whenever you’ve got that guy (Igor Shesterkin) in net, you always feel you have a chance.
“The goal from training camp was to win a Cup. We came up short of that.”
With the loss, the Rangers can now focus on the offseason starting with the upcoming NHL draft in which they will make the No. 30 pick in the first round, according to Tankathon.
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