Here are 3 keys to Game 6:
1. Power play mojo
The power play was one of the Rangers’ biggest sources of strength during the regular season (26.4 percent) and the first six games of the playoffs (40.0 percent).
It’s been one of their most glaring problems since Game 3 of the second round against the Hurricanes, and especially in this series against Florida.
The Rangers are 8.3 percent (2 of 24) on the power play in their last nine games, including 7.1 percent (1 of 14) in the conference finals.
Not surprisingly, his goals per game in the playoffs dropped from 3.83 in his first six games to 2.56 in his last nine, including 2.20 against Florida.
A change on the power play in Game 6 could lead to a Game 7.
“(In Game 5) we were in the zone, we generated four or five quality chances, we generated 13 attempts on net, so it’s not like we’re sitting there and we’re completely stymied by that,” the Rangers coach said. . said Peter Laviolette. “We just haven’t scored. We need to score.”
2. Wearing them out
The Panthers have dominated after the second period in three straight games, leading to victories in Games 4 and 5.
They outshot the Rangers 13-6 and won Game 5 in the third period on Anton Lundell’s goal at 10:22 and Sam Bennett’s empty-net goal at 18:08. Alexis Lafrenière scored for New York at 19:10 to make it 3-2.
Florida outshot the Rangers 15-5 between the third period and the 72-second overtime in Game 4. Lafreniere scored the only goal in the third to make it 2-2, but Sam Reinhart scored on the power play in overtime to give the Panthers the 3-2 victory.
The Panthers were also down 4-2 entering the third of Game 3, but scored twice and outshot the Rangers 13-4. Alex Wennberg won it in overtime for New York.
Overall, the Panthers have outscored their opponents 23-10 in the third period of the playoffs; the Rangers have been outscored 15-13.
In what figures to be another close game, Florida’s dominance in the third period could go a long way.
“I think it’s part of our game, to wear down the other team, to play with a tough, defense-first mentality and just wear teams down and capitalize on their mistakes,” Rodrigues said. “It seems like we’re getting better and better as the game goes on. We’re starting to get more and more comfortable and I think we’ve done a really good job building in most of the games.”
3. Ranger Rewind
NHL EDGE stats reveal why this series swung in the Panthers’ favor after the Rangers held a 2-1 lead.
The Panthers have a 28-11 advantage in high-danger shots on goal in the last two games, including 17-6 in Game 5. Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin stopped 25 of them, but considering the volume, It’s not so surprising that they got hurt. won one more goal in both with 3-2 wins.
But the Rangers held a 23-19 advantage in high-danger shots on goal in the first three games, including 17-15 in Games 2 and 3, the two they won.
New York hasn’t needed as many high-danger shots on goal to beat Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. He was 4 of 10 in Game 3, but the Rangers have to be better in that area in Game 6 to have the best chance of forcing a Game 7.
Projected Rangers Lineup
Chris Kreider – Mika Zibanejad – Filip Chytil
Artemi Panarin – Vincent Trocheck – Alexis Lafreniere
Jack Roslovic – Alex Wennberg – Kaapo Kakko
Will Cuylle – Barclay Goodrow – Jonny Brodzinski
Ryan Lindgren – Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller – Braden Schneider
Erik Gustafsson – Jacob Trouba
Igor Shesterkin
jonathan quick
Lined: Zac Jones, Chad Ruhwedel, Matt Rempe, Adam Edstrom, Blake Wheeler, Alex Belzile, Brett Berard, Anton Blidh, Ben Harpur, Dylan Garand, Jake Leschyshyn, Connor Mackey, Victor Mancini, Brennan Othmann, Tyler Pitlick, Matthew Robertson, Brandon Scanlin , Adam Sykora
Injured: Jimmy Vesey (upper body)
Panthers Projected Lineup
Carter Verhaeghe – Aleksander Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Matthew Tkachuk – Sam Bennett – Evan Rodrigues
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Vladimir Tarasenko
Steven Lorentz – Kevin Stenlund – Kyle Okposo
Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Dmitry Kulikov
Sergei Bobrovsky
Antonio Stolarz
Lined: Ryan Lomberg, Nick Cousins, Tobias Bjornfot, Uvis Balinskis, Josh Mahura, Jonah Gadjovich, Spencer Knight, Rasmus Asplund, Mike Benning, Magnus Hellberg, Matt Kiersted, William Lockwood, Mackie Samoskevich, Justin Sourdif
Injured: None
Status Report
Brodzinski is expected to make his series debut in place of Rempe, who remained on the ice during the morning skate with the other scratches. Rempe, a forward, played 2:43 in Game 5. Brodzinski also worked on the second power-play unit in the morning skate. … Wheeler, a forward, was not on the ice Saturday morning. … The Panthers keep their lineup the same for the third straight game.
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