Three takeaways as Panthers eliminate Rangers, advance to Stanley Cup Final
The Florida Panthers are going back to the Stanley Cup Final for the second year in a row and the third time in franchise history thanks to their 2-1 Game 6 win over the New York Rangers on Saturday night.
They will now await the winner of the Western Conference Final series between the Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers lead that series 3-2 and will have a chance to clinch it on Sunday night in Edmonton.
Here are three takeaways from the Panthers’ win, that included goals from Sam Bennett and Vladimir Tarasenko and 23 saves on 24 shots from starting goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.
1. The Panthers are a juggernaut
The Panthers have established themselves as the new class of the Eastern Conference with a second straight Stanley Cup Final appearance. This year’s team looks even better than the one that made it a year ago and has a real chance to bring the Stanley Cup to south Florida for the first time ever.
There is just no clear weakness anywhere on this team.
Their forecheck is relentless and caused havoc for the Rangers all series. Their scoring depth is outstanding, as evidenced by the fact they won Games 5 and 6 of the series while getting almost no production from Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Reinahrt, their three biggest stars. They are exceptional defensively and also have a two-time Vezina Trophy winner in Sergei Bobrovsky making big saves in goal.
It has been an incredible three-year run for this team, one that has included a Presidents’ Trophy in 2021-22, a Stanley Cup Final in 2022-23 and another Stanley Cup Final now in 2023-24. The only thing they are missing is the actual championship. This might be the team.
2. The Rangers have to stop being so dependent on their power play and goalie
The Rangers’ flaws were obvious for most of the season and most of the past couple of seasons.
They are overly reliant on their power play to drive offense and their goalie (Igor Shesterkin) to bail out their defense. The good news for them is their power play is good enough to do that over an 82-game season and Shesterkin is one of the top two or three goalies in the league. He is arguably the best goalie at the moment.
As good as all of that is, there is a limit to how far a power play and a goalie can carry a team. Their is a ceiling, and it is usually not a Stanley Cup.
At some point that power play is going to go cold. Referees will put whistles away in the playoffs. And eventually goalies will run out of gas when they are asked to keep carrying the defense.
These same problems keep creeping in for the Rangers every year.
Until they fix them, the Stanley Cup drought is going to continue.
3. Another year without a championship for the Presidents’ Trophy winner
Whether it is actually some sort of a curse or not, finishing with the NHL’s best record continues not to guarantee much come playoff time.
With the Rangers loss it is another year without a championship for the Presidents’ Trophy winner. The last team to win the Stanley Cup and Presidents’ Trophy in the same season remains the 2012-13 Chicago Blackhawks (in a lockout shortened 48-game season), while only two teams (the 2007-08 Detroit Red Wings being the other) have done it in the salary-cap era going back to the start of the 2005-06 season.
There is a lot to be said for being the best team in the league over a full 82-game season. It should not be diminished or tossed aside. It just does not guarantee playoff success.
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