Panthers have the Rangers on the ropes: Grades, takeaways from Game 5, early look at Game 6
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Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporter
The Florida Panthers and New York Rangers entered Game 5 Thursday night with their Eastern Conference finals series tied at two games apiece.
After the visiting Panthers edged the Rangers 3-2, they’ll take that same lead back home for Saturday night’s potential series-clinching game (8 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN+).
Here’s what stood out in Florida’s victory, along with key players to watch in Game 6, and the biggest lingering question.
Panthers grade: B+
The Panthers controlled possession. They made it difficult for the Rangers to find the needed time to get settled in the offensive zone over the final two periods.
Above all, they found ways to reach the net front while consistently ensuring the Rangers struggled in that department, beyond the late goal Alexis Lafreniere scored to cut it to a one-goal margin.
If not for Igor Shesterkin, it’s possible the Panthers could have won by a larger margin and head into a Game 6 that could see them return to a consecutive Stanley Cup final for the first time in their team’s history.
Exercising patience has been crucial for the Panthers during these playoffs. Look no further than the events that led to an empty-net goal. They set up in front of Sergei Bobrovsky‘s net before forechecking and pressuring the Rangers into a mistake, en route to grabbing a two-goal lead. If they replicate that formula consistently in Game 6, the Panthers will become the first team to punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final.
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Sam Bennett’s empty-net goal pads Panthers’ lead late
Sam Bennett wrists in a goal on an empty net to give the Panthers a 3-1 lead vs. the Rangers.
Rangers grade: B-
Watching Lafreniere get near the net and score did more than cut the lead to 3-2 with less than a minute left. It was one of the few times the Rangers could really get set in the offensive zone while having a player in a position to grab a goal in a part of the ice the Panthers largely worked to take away. Is that repeatable in future games?
Finding openings was a challenge for the Rangers once the second period started. They went from 11 shots in the first period to a total of 11 more in the next 32 minutes of game time. They finished with 27, and quite a few of them were from distance.
Even with those 11 first-period shots, Natural Stat Trick’s metrics show the Rangers had a 46% shot-share in 5-on-5 play. An inability to consistently gain possession was further compounded by the fact that the Panthers broke through for 18 high-danger chances, while allowing only seven high-danger chances for the Rangers. One example of that was the Sam Reinhart shot at the doorstep that Shesterkin stopped with 5:49 left.
Another item that didn’t help was the Rangers, who have the second-best power-play unit of the four remaining teams, drew just one penalty; however, they get bonus points for a short-handed goal from Chris Kreider, his first tally of the series.
Players to watch in Game 6
Gustav Forsling. This goes beyond the fact he scored the game-tying goal. What Forsling did in Game 5 is an extension of what he’s done this season and how he’s emerged as one of the Panthers’ most important players.
So much of the Panthers’ success has been their ability to take away time and space from opponents, with the idea they can quickly get in the offensive zone. Forsling has allowed the Panthers to find success in both zones while averaging more than 23 minutes per game during the Panthers’ postseason run. He’ll be critical again as they look to put the Rangers away Saturday.
Artemi Panarin. It gets complicated as one chooses how to measure Panarin’s production. He’s arguably been the Rangers’ strongest facilitator in the postseason while still being a threat to score goals of his own. The four shots he had on net in Game 5 are the most he’s had since the second round in Game 6 against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Panarin’s ability to create for others has been beyond vital for the Rangers. But if he can find a way to score a goal in Game 6, it would play a major role in the Rangers forcing a Game 7. If not, there are obviously other ways the Rangers could win and get to a Game 7. But as Game 5 showed, getting as many offensive contributions as possible from star players will only make things easier.
Big question for Game 6: Can the Rangers find some sort of success with the power play?
Success is something of a relative term when it comes to the Rangers’ power play at the moment: Is success breaking through to score a goal? Or would the first piece in finding success simply be finding a way to get on the power play at all?
Going into Game 5, the Rangers have had one of the NHL’s best extra-skater advantages during the playoffs as a whole but have struggled since reaching the conference final round. They’ve converted only 9.1% of their power-play chances. Having such a low success rate is made more of an issue by the fact they had just one power play in Game 5; by contrast, they saw one of their three chances converted in Game 4. So the task ahead is both drawing more penalties and making the Panthers pay when they do.
The New York Rangers are in advanced contract talks to make former Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan their next head coach, sources told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and Kevin Weekes on Thursday.
The deal is expected to be one of the richest coaching contracts in NHL history, the sources said.
Sullivan would head to New York in a move that is coming together three days after he left his job with Pittsburgh, where he coached for 10 seasons and won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017.
The Penguins have missed the playoffs for the past three seasons amid a retooling of the roster.
David Quinn, Sullivan’s top assistant in Pittsburgh, is not expected to join him in New York. Quinn will be a candidate for other head coaching vacancies, including Pittsburgh’s, according to sources.
John Tortorella is a strong possibility to rejoin the Rangers organization. Sullivan, Quinn and Tortorella were on the coaching staff for Team USA at Four Nations.
In New York, Sullivan would replace Peter Laviolette, who was fired after the Rangers didn’t make the postseason for the first time since 2021.
Sullivan was selected by the Rangers in the 1987 draft but never played for New York, choosing to stay in college at Boston University before going on to an 11-year NHL playing career with four teams.
Sullivan, 57, previously served as a Rangers assistant coach from 2009 to 2013 on Tortorella’s staff. He also was the head coach of the Boston Bruins for the 2003-04 and 2005-06 seasons.
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Ryan S. Clark
Winnipeg Jets coach Scott Arniel said Thursday that star center Mark Scheifele will not travel with team ahead of Game 6 against the St. Louis Blues.
Scheifele will remain in Winnipeg after he missed the second and third periods of his team’s 5-3 victory Wednesday against the Blues in Game 5 of the Western Conference quarterfinals.
“You’re hoping for the best that maybe he wakes up today and things are better,” Arniel told reporters before the team flight to St. Louis. “But right now, he won’t be making the trip, and we’ll just go day-to-day moving forward.”
With 13:51 remaining in the opening period, the Jets were in the Blues’ zone when Scheifele had just played the puck along the half wall. That’s when he was instantly checked by Blues captain Brayden Schenn. Scheifele appeared to be concentrating on the puck and looked as if he did not see Schenn, who connected with the top half of Scheifele’s chest and knocked him down to the ice.
Schenn was given a two-minute minor for interference and another two-minute minor for roughing.
A little more than 10 minutes later, Scheifele was involved in another physical sequence. He was just about to reach the Blues’ zone when forward Radek Faksa also checked him and appeared to have struck Scheifele in the same area as the previous hit from Schenn.
Scheifele finished the first period, but Arniel spoke to the officials as both teams were entering the dressing room before first intermission. Blues coach Jim Montgomery confirmed with reporters after the game that Arniel spoke to the officials about the Schenn hit before sharing his thoughts.
“Let’s make it clear: Fifty-five got hurt from the Faksa hit,” Montgomery said. “He played six minutes after the Schenn hit. He didn’t come back after he got rocked by Faksa.”
Upon hearing Montgomery’s comments, Arniel had some thoughts of his own.
“I didn’t know Monty got his medical degree and can say how our player got hurt. He’s way off base and should not make that comment,” Arniel told reporters. “There’s some things that have been going on in this series and that was a repeat of what we’ve seen before: A player leaving his feet and then hitting a player in a very unprotected spot. Like hitting him in the sense, almost blindsiding him. Not happy with how the call was made. A two-minute minor. Not even looking at it is what I was upset about.
“It is something we have talked to the league about for five games.”
On Thursday, Arniel was asked if Scheifele was in concussion protocol.
“I’m not going down that road,” Arniel said.
It’s possible that the Jets could once again turn to Vladislav Namestnikov like they did in Game 5 and elevate him to the top line. The second-line center would take Scheifele’s place on the first line alongside Kyle Connor and Gabriel Vilardi.
Namestnikov, who had 11 goals and 38 points in 78 regular-season games, had his strongest game of the postseason in Game 5. He finished with a goal and two points while logging 17:15 of ice time.
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