Rangers barely hang on to beat Panthers 4-3

Notes on the game

Amazingly, Igor Shesterkin has never lost a game in which he faced 40 shots or more.  He has won all nine games, including two this season.  He looked especially disturbed by the Hornqvist goal with the goalie pulled. Adam Fox and K’Andre Miller failed to cover Hornqvist who was all alone in the slot and was allowed to shoot undisturbed.

He is also the fourth NHL goalie to win his first eight games when making 40 saves or more.  Tukka Rask won his first 11 games while Shesterkin tied Roland Melanson and Matt Murray with eight straight wins.  That’s since 1955 when the NHL started tracking shots.

How effective was the Florida attack? They had 91 shot attempts to the Rangers’ 37.  They had 45 shots to the Rangers’ 18.  21 of their shots were high danger and they 22 chances from the slot compared to only nine for New York.  They had 15 chances off the rush, one of their strengths, while the Rangers had only four.

Anyone who wants to argue that Shesterkin doesn’t deserve accolades because he gave up three goals didn’t watch this game.  He stood on his head (again) and made some absolutely spectacular saves.  All three Florida goals came off open shots from the slot and there was a case to be made that the first Panthers goal should have been disallowed.

It was after a Shesterkin save on a Frank Vitrano breakaway that the Rangers were able to take the lead on a Chris Kreider power play goal.

He put in a rebound of a Zibanejad deflection off a Panarin pass.

After having a goal disallowed in Calgary, Adam Fox made sure that this one counted as he put in a shorthanded backhander with seconds left it in the first period.  How smart is Fox?  He knew that time was winding down in the period so he was able to commit and join the rush.  The shot was similar to the backhander he scored in Calgary that was disallowed due to an offside call. It was the first shorthanded goal of the season for the Blueshirts.

The Rangers had a goal disallowed for the second straight game when a Panarin goal was negated because Ryan Strome was in the crease and impeded Spencer Knight’s ability to get to the shot.  This is all on Strome as he got too deep in the paint and was unable to get out before Panarin took the shot. An argument could have been made that Aaron Ekblad didn’t let Strome out of the crease, but he shouldn’t  have been that deep in the first place.

The disallowed goal could have demoralized the team, but then K’Andre Miller scored the goal of his life on an end-to-end rush.  It was a spectacular individual effort and gave the Rangers a big 3-0 lead.

Strome made up for his mistake by scored on a two-on-one break with Panarin to give the Blueshirts what seemed to be too big a lead.

Both Ranger goals came with the teams playing four-on-four due to an embellishment penalty taken by Alexis Lafrenière on an Aaron Ekblad holding call.

Speaking of goalie interference, midway through the first period he was hit by Anthony  Duclair on a play that should have been called, but wasn’t.  For a while it looked like he was shaken up, but he was able to continue.

The Rangers were guilty of sloppy play in the third period and failed on numerous occasions to get the puck deep. Artemi Panarin is probably the Ranger most guilty of trying to make risky plays while protecting a lead.  Considering how quickly the Panthers are off the rush, it was important for Panarin to make smarter plays.  Of course, when Panarin sees a chance to pass, he sees is as a scoring opportunity as opposed to a risky play.

The refereeing was inconsistent and it seemed like the referees were slow to whistle plays dead.  They missed the Duclair interference on Shesterkin and were guilty of a few other non-calls. Kevin Rooney was called for unsportsmanlike conduct when he shoved Vitrano who helped the call.

The Panthers were in double figures in shots in all three periods, the second time that has happened this season.

Filip Chytil missed the game with an injury and was replaced by Julien Gauthier.  Gauthier had one shot on a rush and played 8:06,fewest minutes of any Ranger player.

Sammy Blais was moved up to the first line as they needed Goodrow to center the third line. He didn’t look out of place with Zibanejad and Kreider.

Kaapo Kakko is still looking for his first point and he thought he had it on the Panarin disallowed goal.  He played a physical game and the Strome line had the best possession statistics of the four lines.

With Ryan Reaves back in the lineup, the fourth line was effective, cycling in the offensive zone. Reaves drew one penalty and threw a team high seven hits.

The Rangers announced that Libor Hajek was sent to Hartford on a conditioning assignment.  He doesn’t have to clear waivers and the terms of a conditioning assignment is that it has to be approved by the player and cannot last more than 14 days. Hajek as been with the Rangers the entire season, but has yet to see any action.