Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 43: Panthers eliminate Rangers, clinch Stanley Cup Final berth

For the second year in a row, the Rat Pack will play for the Cup.

In Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final, the Florida Panthers put together another convincing effort against the New York Rangers, eliminating the President’s Trophy winners with a 2-1 win on Saturday night.

It is the third time in franchise history that the Panthers have advanced to the Stanley Cup Final.

Just like the narrative in the previous three games of the series, the Panthers heavily outshot the Rangers, dominating the game at 5-on-5, and holding the Rangers’ best offensive weapons at bay for most of the night.

The Rangers had a solid start in the opening minutes of the game. However, the pressure let up as the first period wore on. With less than a minute to go in the period, Evan Rodrigues forced a turnover in the neutral zone and went in on an abbreviated odd-man rush with Sam Bennett. Rodrigues teed up Bennett for a one-timer, and the 27-year-old picked the corner on Igor Shesterkin for the first goal of the game, and his sixth of the playoffs.

The second period saw the Panthers limit the Rangers’ chances for most of it. Truthfully, neither side had many grade-A scoring chances. The best look came when Bennett sent Matthew Tkachuk on a breakaway, but he was stopped by Sheskterin.

The Blueshirts had a small flurry toward the end of the middle stanza, but Florida was still hanging onto a one-goal lead heading into the third.

Desperate for the tying goal, the Rangers pushed early in the final 20 minutes. However, a hard forecheck by Eetu Luostarinen led to Anton Lundell finding Vladimir Tarasenko for a pretty back-door goal, putting Florida up by two with his third of the postseason.

In the closing minutes of the game, the Rangers pushed hard to try to stage some form of a comeback. With less than two minutes to go and the net empty, Artemi Panarin ripped a shot under the bar to break the shutout with his fifth of the playoffs.

Though the Blueshirts had plenty of time to tie the game, the Panthers buckled down defensively in front of Sergei Bobrovsky, hanging on for the win.

The Panthers outshot the Rangers 34-24.

The Rangers’ inability to create sustained offensive pressure over the last few games was their downfall. They relied on Shesterkin to keep them in games, but to no avail. The 2022 Vezina Trophy winner stopped 186 of the 200 shots he faced in the series.

A candidate for this year’s Vezina, Bobrovsky was exceptional as well, despite not having the same workload as his countryman. Bobrovsky gave up just 12 goals on 151 shots.

The Rangers became the 25th team to win the President’s Trophy but fail to advance to the final.

The Panthers become the third team in the last eight years to advance to the Cup Final in back-to-back seasons, joining the Pittsburgh Penguins (2016, 2017) and Tampa Bay Lightning (2020-22).

They will face the winner of the Western Conference final, which sees the Edmonton Oilers leading the Dallas Stars, 3-2, heading into Game 6 on Sunday night.