Assessing Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals

The Florida Panthers walked into Madison Square Garden for Game 1 against the New York Rangers last night and walked out with a 3-0 win. Matthew Tkachuk netted the first goal for the Cats with 3:34 remaining in the first period. The Panther's lead doubled late in the third period after an own goal from New York’s Alexis Lafrenière and Sam Bennett put the icing on the cake with an empty netter. 

Panthers Relentless Forecheck

The Rangers were pressured in their own zone the entire night. Breakouts were a challenge and even when they were able to enter the offensive zone successfully and potentially have a rush the Selke Trophy winner, Aleksander Barkov, was coming out of no man’s land hunting pucks down. It seemed like New York could not get into a groove and no corrections were made throughout the game. 

New York’s defenseman, Adam Fox, talked about the breakouts after Game 1, per NHL.com. 

"They come at you real fast. Their 'D' get up in the play and have those tight gaps. We talk about breakouts and I think the shorter it's on your stick the better.”

Rangers Scoring Chances 

The Rangers had 25 shots on goal, six less than their average on the season. Although the offense was inconsistent throughout the night they still had several A+ scoring chances, but they could not capitalize on any of them. 

They had two breakaway chances, one that beamed off the post from Braden Schneider and multiple one-timers from Mika Zibanejad that were both inches away from putting a hole in the back of the net. 

Their best chance came with 7:21 left in the game when they trailed by one. Alex Wennberg came down the far side and wristed a shot on net. The rebound fell to the crease where Wennberg and Jacob Trouba would hack at it but Sergei Bobrovsky stood tall and shut them down. The loose puck would find its way to Lafrenière's stick in the slot, but his wrister would ring off the pipe and out of play, ending the brief momentum. 

Here are the best scoring chances from the Rangers in Game 1. 

Panthers Offense 

Despite winning the game 3-0 I was not that impressed with the Panthers offense. They had 27 shots on goal, two more than New York, and went 0-3 on the man advantage. 

When it comes to the goals, Tkachuk beat Igor Shesterkin on a shot that I have seen him save hundreds of times and one I bet he wishes he had back. It looked like he had his glove in the right position but moved it at the last second which cost him. The second goal was an absolute fluke own goal that, hopefully, we won’t see again in this series (Unless it benefits the Rangers of course).

I expect the Panthers to get more scoring chances going forward, but Shesterkin looked solid in net, and giving up a couple of tough goals does not worry me going forward. 

Game 2

The series resumes tomorrow at MSG, puck drop at 8:00 p.m. EST.