The Florida Panthers blew a two-goal lead and ended up dropping its home finale to the New York Rangers by a 5-3 count, meaning the Stanley Cup champs will open the playoffs on road, most likely against the hated Tampa Bay Lightning.
Playing again at less than full strength, the Cats were fine for the first thirty-five minutes, building a 3-1 lead, but the Rangers were able to steal momentum with a pair of goals 1:38 apart by Juuso Parssinen and J.T. Miller to even the game before the end of the middle frame.
Former Panther Vincent Trocheck whistled Miller’s crossing pass by Sergei Bobrovsky 3:40 into the third with the Cats up a man to break the tie, and Jonny Brodzinski wristed home a loose puck in front with 3:29 remaining to clinch it.
Tough guy Matt Rempe scored New York’s first goal and combined with Kreider to set up Brodzinski’s insurance marker.
The Panthers opened the scoring 2:22 into the tilt with K’Andre Miller in the penalty box. After taking a pass from Evan Rodrigues, Sam Bennett lost the handle on the puck while surveying his options. Fortunately, the disk drifted right to Sam Reinhart, who slapped it past Jonathan Quick.
Carter Verhaeghe would give the Cats the lead back 4:32 into the second when Gustav Forsling cranked a low drive off Quick’s leg pad that rebounded off Verhaeghe’s shin and found the back of the net following an Aleksander Barkov faceoff win. It was Verhaeghe’s 20th goal and Barkov’s 50th assist of the season. Verhaeghe has lit the lamp in each of his last three outings and has points in his last four games.
Reinhart got his second of the night when he beat Quick from the slot at 13:54 after receiving a sweet backhand centering feed from Barkov. Seth Jones collected the secondary helper on Reinhart’s 29th of the campaign.
The disappointing finish ended Florida’s modest three-game winning streak and locked the Cats into third place in the Atlantic Division.
Tonight’s season finale has become a meaningless affair for the Panthers. The Lightning still have a small chance of catching the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are in Buffalo tonight, so they will gunning for two of the four points they need to pull off that improbability.
Bulls & Bears
- Sam Reinhart probably won’t play tonight, so let’s give him his props this morning. Reinhart led the team in goals (39) and points (81) for the second-straight season. The 39 goals and 42 assists were the second-most he’s posted in those categories in his career. His 81 points were his third-highest total. Another stupendous season from Florida’s ace winger.
- Aleksander Barkov’s two helpers gave him 51 on the season as he hit the 50-assist mark for the third straight season. Barkov became the third Finnish-born skater with a run of that length, joining Jari Kurri (9) and Mikko Rantanen (4).
- In addition to Matt Rempe’s unlikely goal and an assist, the Rangers got multi-point performances from First Star J.T. Miller (1G/1A), Juuso Parssinen (1G/1A), Chris Kreider (2A) and K’Andre Miller (2A).
- Playing his first game since April 5, Sam Bennett picked up an assist and was also credited with three shots on goal and a hit in 17:51 of ice time. Dmitry Kulikov also returned after a long absence and played 19:36.
- Sergei Bobrovsky (20 saves) took the loss, but finished the season with a 33-19-2 record, 2.44 GAA, .906 save percentage and five shutouts. Impressive, most impressive.
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