The Florida Panthers left the Big Apple with no points, losing 3-1 to the New York Rangers at Madison Sqaure Garden.
With Igor Shesterkin and Sergei Bobrovsky pitching shutouts into the third, Adam Sykora finally opened the scoring when he tipped Adam Fox’s shot from just above the right circle past Florida’s keeper at 5:38 with the secondary assist going to Noah Laba.
Conor Sheary provided insurance at the 11:14 mark, cashing in a shorthanded breakaway after J.T. Miller picked off Vinnie Hinostroza’s pass that was intended for Matthew Tkachuk and sent the veteran winger away for his fifth of the season.
After the Panthers pulled Bobrovsky early, Fox tacked on an empty-netter from Will Borgen to put the Rangers up by three with 3:54 left in the game.
After not finishing on a couple of Grade A chances in Elmont the day prior, Mackie Samoskevich finally dented Shesterkin at 19:19 to end a 12-game goalless drought. Mike Benning head-manned to Jesper Boqvist, who dished off to Samoskevich on the right side. Samoskevich broke his stick on his shot attempt from the circle and the puck ramped up off the twig of defenseman Drew Fortescue and bounced off Shesterkin’s blade as he took a swat at it, before tumbling into the net with the crowd in the midst of chanting Igor.
A tough result for the Panthers, who outplayed the Rangers in the matinee affair. Surrendering the shorthanded goal already down one was a killer. Shesterkin (27 saves) was a little bit better than Bobrovosky (21 saves) on this day. With their latest loss, the Cats dropped to 28th in the league, putting them closer to keeping their first round pick in the 2026 draft. They will return home to host the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins this week before embarking on their final road trip of the season.
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