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.
While fans in Edmonton and Dallas are always singing about how they have friends in low places, only one of them has the high ground in the Western Conference finals. And that’s the Oilers after their 6-1 win Sunday in Game 3 to take a 2-1 series lead.
With the series tied heading into Sunday, the objective for Game 3 was to gain a firm grasp of the conference finals, and the Oilers did just that by having five players with multipoint performances. As for the Stars, losing Game 3 left them trailing a series for the second time this postseason, with the only other such occurrence coming after Game 1 against the Colorado Avalanche in the first round.
Now that the Oilers are in control of the series, what does it mean for them going forward? What must the Stars do differently ahead of Game 4 for them to return home tied rather than a game away from elimination? Ryan S. Clark and Greg Wyshynski examine those questions while delving into what lies ahead for two teams that not only faced each other in the conference finals last season but between them have been involved in every conference final since 2020.
Edmonton Oilers
Grade: A
Much could change between now and whenever the playoffs end. But for now, the argument could be made that this was the most important playoff game the Oilers have had this postseason.
The Oilers have had numerous strong performances, such as Game 3 against the Los Angeles Kings in the first round or their final two games against the Vegas Golden Knights in the conference semifinals. But what made the Oilers’ performance in Game 3 against Dallas arguably their most important was that they found a balance between being difficult in the defensive zone while not relying on a shutout to accomplish that objective.
The Stars finished with 37 shots, 13 high-danger chances in 5-on-5 play and scored only once. Connor McDavid has repeatedly stressed that the Oilers can play defense, and that has been made clear over their past five games. But Sunday proved they didn’t need Stuart Skinner or their defensive structure to blank an opponent to win. — Ryan S. Clark
Dallas Stars
Grade: C+
The final score doesn’t reflect the majority of this game, which Dallas coach Pete DeBoer can mine for positives among the many (many) negatives and some mitigating circumstances. Having Roope Hintz warm up but not be able to go because of the foot injury he suffered from a Darnell Nurse slash in Game 2? That’s deflating. Having the on-ice officials miss a delay of game call on Brett Kulak in the first period only to have Evan Bouchard open the scoring 10 seconds later? Also deflating.
So it’s to the Stars’ credit that they got to their game at 5-on-5 in Game 3 better than they have in any game of the series, at least before Edmonton ran up the score in the third. The results weren’t there and a loss is a loss — and a loss by this margin is difficult to stomach — but their second period and the performances from some of their slumbering depth players give the Stars at least a glimmer.
However, there’s no question Edmonton has this thing in well in-hand and the Stars have to find a way to solve Skinner, which is not something I thought I’d be writing at this stage of the postseason. — Greg Wyshynski
Three Stars of Game 3
Two goals and an assist for his seventh career multigoal playoff game. Hyman’s second goal was the Oilers’ fourth off the rush, the most in one game by any team this postseason. Hyman also was plus-5 Sunday.
Bouchard scored his sixth goal of the postseason and these two were on the ice for the first two Edmonton goals. At 5-on-5 this postseason, the Oilers are outscoring their opponents 7-1, and 5-0 in this series, when Bouchard and Kulak are on the ice.
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Connor McDavid restores Oilers’ 2-goal lead
Connor McDavid finds the back of the net to restore the Oilers’ two-goal lead vs. the Stars.
3. Connor McDavid
C, Oilers
For all the talk about the lack of goals from the best hockey player in the world (which was odd because he had 20 points in 13 games and was a plus-7 entering Game 3 despite having only three goals), McDavid punched out a pair of tucks for his sixth career multigoal playoff game. Also, seeing McDavid with the puck barreling toward the net on a 3-on-1 is nightmare fuel for opponents. — Arda Ćcal
Players to watch in Game 4
Zach Hyman
LW, Oilers
To go from 16 goals last postseason to just three goals entering Game 3 of the conference finals is one way to assess Hyman. Another is to realize that he’s been the most physical player on a team that is among the tallest and heaviest in the NHL.
Hyman came into Game 3 leading the NHL with 99 hits. He remained physical Sunday by leading the way with six hits in a game that saw the Oilers continue their punishing style with 47. But to then see Hyman score two goals and finish with three points in addition to that physicality? It once again adds to the narrative that the Oilers might not only have more dimensions than last year’s team, they could be better than the team that finished Stanley Cup runner-up in 2024. — Clark
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Zach Hyman’s 2nd goal puts Oilers up 4
Zach Hyman taps home his second goal of the game to put the Oilers up 5-1 vs. the Stars.
This is the first two-game losing streak for the Dallas goaltender in the playoffs. A lot of what happened in Game 3 wasn’t necessarily on him — a Connor McDavid beauty and a Zach Hyman breakaway were among the Edmonton tallies — but outside of the third period of Game 1, he’s not been a difference-maker in this series. Oettinger came into the game leading the playoffs with 5.58 goals saved above expected, according to Stathletes. The Stars have been able to depend on him as a slump-breaker. But this is his third game with a save percentage south of .900 in the series. As the Stars try to build on some positives from this game, they need Otter to provide the foundation for it — and in the process, silence those “U.S. backup!” chants from the Oilers fans. — Wyshynski
Big questions for Game 4
Are the Oilers about to do to the Stars what they did to the Golden Knights?
Simply put, the Oilers are where hope goes to die. Teams in a championship window that have yet to win a title are always being judged on their evolution. What the Oilers did to the Stars a year ago in the conference finals by winning the last three games showed that they could close out a series after trailing. This postseason Edmonton has shown a calculated and methodical coldness when it comes to putting away opponents.
The Golden Knights won Game 3 on a last-second goal to create the belief they may have found an opening. They didn’t score again for the rest of the playoffs after being in the top five of goals per game throughout the regular season. Breaking out for six goals to open the series seemed to be a sign the Stars may have found an opening. Since then? They’ve scored only once in the last six periods while facing questions about what’s happened to another team that went from being in the top five in goals per game in the regular season. — Clark
Can Dallas make Edmonton uncomfortable at all?
Our colleague Mark Messier made this point between periods of Game 3: The Stars have yet to do anything to get McDavid or Leon Draisaitl off their games. That extends to the rest of the Oilers. Outside of an anomalous run of three power-play goals in the third period of Game 1, there have been precious few instances of the Stars carrying play for long stretches or putting a scare into Edmonton at 5-on-5.
They had that for a bit in Game 3 with a dominant second period: plus-14 in shot attempts, plus-11 in scoring chances and a 10-1 advantage in high-danger shot attempts. But they were digging out of a 2-0 hole, only managed to get one goal of their own on the board and then McDavid stuck a dagger in them with 19 seconds left in the second.
The Stars need a lead. They need zone time. They need to get their rush game going: Skinner had a .897 save percentage on shots off the rush entering the game. Edmonton is playing with a champion’s confidence. Dallas has to find a way to inject a little doubt into its opponent or this series is going to end quickly. — Wyshynski
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