*Photo from the San Diego Union Tribune*
Series tied 1-1
Just like that, it's tied. Igor Shesterkin came up big in net, Barclay Goodrow scored the game winning goal, and the New York Rangers defeated the Florida Panthers with a 2-1 overtime victory Friday night in Manhattan.
After being shut out on home ice in game one, the Rangers responded in game two, tying the series on the back of a timely goal and having the better goalie performance. The Rangers have gone into overtime 3 times in the playoffs, and they're undefeated in those games.
Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette said of the win that "I thought it was a pretty competitive game both ways. I did like our game better and we end up getting a big overtime goal to move in. You definitely feel a lot better going down to Florida 1-1 than 0-2, and so it was a big win for us."
It was the Rangers who got the lead first in this one. Vincent Trocheck found the back of the net for them, giving them a 1-0 lead on his 7th goal of the playoffs 4:12 into the game, assisted by Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox. Carter Verhaeghe got the equalizer for the Panthers on the power play with assists going to Anton Lundell and Sam Bennett.
Both the second and 3rd periods went without a goal, so it was off to overtime in game two. It took a while in overtime as well. Goodrow scored the game winner 14:01 into overtime, scoring his 4th goal of the playoffs as Trocheck and Jacob Trouba assisted on the goal, putting the Rangers on the board and tying the series.
Goodrow said of his goal that "I don't really remember exactly how it went in. I just remember Trocheck made a great pass to me and Cuylle was driving to the net, opening up the lane, so it was a great play by those two. It feels good, I think, whenever you can do something to help your team. Obviously, I think we played a pretty good game tonight, and it was nice to get rewarded with the win."
Getting the start in goal was unsurprisingly Shesterkin for the Rangers, who came out on top in the goalie showdown. Shesterkin turned aside 26 out of the 27 shots on goal that the Panthers tested him with, giving him a .963 save percentage.
It was Shesterkin's Russian counterpart Sergei Bobrovsky guarding the goal on the other end of the ice for the Panthers. Bobrovsky stopped 28 of the 30 shots the Rangers offense sent his way, recording a .933 save percentage.
Florida head coach Paul Maurice said of the loss that "You shouldn’t beat the Presidents’ Trophy winner twice in a row, you really shouldn’t. We got that to overtime. I liked it. We just couldn’t get it to go. It was two really good goaltenders at each end. It was exciting."
The 3rd game of the series is set for Sunday afternoon in Sunrise as the series shifts to Florida's territory. With the series knotted at one, both teams will look to gain the 2-1 lead ahead of game 4.
Comments
Post a Comment