Rangers try to avoid season sweep against talented Florida Panthers
Will Cuylle of the Rangers battles in the front of the net in the first period against Gustav Forsling of the Panthers at Madison Square Garden on March 4. Credit: Jim McIsaac
GREENBURGH – All these high-end teams the Rangers have been playing the last few weeks have been helping to sharpen them for the playoffs, coach Peter Laviolette said a couple of nights ago. But Saturday’s opponent at Madison Square Garden, the Florida Panthers, represented a different type of challenge for Laviolette’s team.
Florida, last spring’s Stanley Cup Finals runner-up, is one of two teams the Rangers had not beaten this season before Saturday’s game, the other being the defending champion, Vegas. And so, with this being the last meeting between the Rangers and Panthers, the question for the Blueshirts was whether, just for their own psyche, they needed to beat Florida at least once before the playoffs begin.
“We want to have a good game tonight, but I don't know,’’ winger Jimmy Vesey said at the Rangers’ morning skate. “We'd like to beat them, but I mean, we beat Boston three times. I don't know if they're gonna lose much sleep over that. So, we definitely want to have a good game, but… it's not imperative [to beat the Panthers]. We're still kind of working our way to where we want to be when the playoffs start.’’
“I do think it's important to play well and do our best to try and get a win against them,’’ Laviolette said. “I don't think that that necessarily decides anything.’’
The Rangers lost, 4-3, on Dec. 29 in Florida in the teams' first meeting, and then lost, 4-2, to the Panthers at MSG earlier this month. While he admitted the Panthers “have got our number this year,’’ Laviolette seemed to view Saturday’s game merely as another test against another elite team, like the ones the Rangers have had recently against Boston, Winnipeg, Tampa, Carolina and Toronto.
The Rangers (46-20-4, 96 points), who entered Saturday first in the Metropolitan Division and second in the overall league standings, have done well in those tests so far, having gone 6-3-1 in their last 10 games before Saturday, with recent wins over Boston and Carolina. They had lost in regulation to Florida, Tampa and Winnipeg, and lost in a shootout to Toronto.
Florida (45-20-4) was one of eight teams – Boston, the Rangers, Vancouver, Colorado, Dallas, Winnipeg and Carolina being the others – in the hunt for the Presidents' Trophy, which goes to the team with the best record in the regular season. Many see the Panthers as the best team in the East, if not the league, at this point.
“They're proven to be one of the top teams in the league, based on what they did last year, based on what they've done this year,’’ Laviolette said. “And so I do think, from a preparation standpoint… it does help to prepare your team for that type of hockey that you're going to see in a month. And that's why the schedule is really good, and you get a chance to play those teams, and compete, and hopefully win hockey games.’’
Cuylle scratched
Rookie LW Will Cuylle was a surprise scratch Saturday as Laviolette continued to rotate his 13 forwards into 12 nightly lineup spots.
“Will's a rookie, Jonny [Brodzinski] is in his first year as regular in the NHL… [Matt] Rempe's a rookie,’’ Laviolette said. “A couple games ago, Will had a real strong game. And then three games ago Jonny had a real strong game. And Remp comes in and provides different elements for our team…
"And so we’ve communicated that to those players and just let them know that they’ve got to be patient, because we’ve got a dozen games left. I hope we remain healthy. If we do remain healthy, I'm going to have to make those decisions, and I'd just rather see everybody ready to play the playoffs.’’
Trouba not skating with team yet
Laviolette said D Jacob Trouba (lower body) remains on the same 2-3 week timetable GM Chris Drury said he was on when he gave an update March 8. “That timeline is good timeline. I think we should just stay with that,’’ Laviolette said. “He’s not [skating] with us yet, so maybe more like three [weeks].’’ . . . Laviolette said D Ryan Lindgren, who missed his third game with a left knee injury, has begun skating on his own. Lindgren was injured last Sunday against the Islanders . . . Igor Shesterkin was back in goal after Jonathan Quick played Thursday in Boston.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
