The two best words in sports are ‘Game’ and ‘Seven.’
For Rangers fans, when the red light was triggered off the stick of Artemi Panarin in overtime of game seven on Sunday, May 15, the best words were ‘Panarin’ and ‘Scores’.
Panarin’s goal delivered the Rangers their first playoff series win since 2017 when they beat the Montreal Canadiens in the first round. They went on to lose to the Ottawa Senators in the next round in six games.
The Rangers played game five down 3-1 in the series and 2-0 in the game to the Pittsburgh Penguins. In a span of two minutes in the second period, they scored three times to go up 3-2, then surrendered a goal not long after. It was 3-3 going to the third with the season in the balance.
Filip Chytil would not leave it up to chance, scoring the eventual game winner three minutes into the third and giving the Rangers one more game.
Game six was a case of dé jà vu. The Penguins went up 2-0 early. The Rangers responded with three straight goals. After the Penguins scored a late goal, it was 3-3 going to the third with the season in the balance.
Where it gets weird is here: the Rangers scored twice in the third to win the game 5-3. The same final score of game five. With those two wins, the series went to “winner-take-all” for game seven.
Game seven started evenly. 1-1 after one period. The teams traded goals again before the Penguins scored to take a 3-2 lead in the third. On a controversial play that resulted in a Penguin helmet being ripped off and forced to leave the ice in the middle of the play, the Ranger’s Mika Zibanejad took advantage of confusion, found space, and scored to tie it up. With the goal, it was 3-3 going to overtime with the season in the balance.
Quickly in overtime, star forward Artemi Panarin found the back of the net to win the series and set up a date with the Carolina Hurricanes, completing the 3-1 comeback. “When it was heading into overtime, I said to myself, ‘I know he’s going to score if we score. If we get the winning goal, it’s going to be him,’” said Ranger Coach Gerard Gallant.
If the Rangers want to have a chance at a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 2014, they will first have to go through the Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes are the one-seed in the Metropolitan division and are coming off a tough series in their own right with a talented Boston Bruins team.
In the regular season, the Hurricanes took the series 2-1. They are an established team that plays with major bursts of speed and have lethal scorers on multiple lines. Therefore, the Rangers need to match speed and earn scoring from the players that are supposed to score like Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, and Artemi Panarin.
The Rangers hold a disadvantage in age and experience, but the last series with the Penguins was a much-needed battle test. They have the defensive prowess to match the offensive firepower of Carolina, but will also need goaltender Igor Sheisterkin to come up clutch more. This will be a series rife with fast-paced action; definitely not one to miss.
In other New York hockey news, the New York Islanders have named a replacement to the beloved Barry Trotz: his former assistant, Lane Lambert. The decision comes less than a week after the Islanders and Trotz mysteriously parted ways after the season. Since someone with his shared vision was tabbed, speculation has already begun that Trotz’ firing was contractual dissatisfaction related.
