Rangers drop regular-season finale, set for playoff showdown with Devils

Artemi Panarin wouldn’t go so far as to say the acquisitions of his longtime friends, Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane, made him happier and a better player for the Rangers in the final two months of this season. 

“No, I can't say that,’’ Panarin said in a conversation with Newsday this week, before the Rangers wrapped up their season Thursday with a 3-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Madison Square Garden. “I felt good when they came in, but I can't say I felt bad before then, because there were still good guys on the team.’’

After the Rangers clinched a playoff spot, Panarin said he turned his focus to getting himself ready for the postseason, which will begin for the Rangers with a first-round series against the Devils, after the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Florida Panthers, 6-4, in their season finale on Thursday to win the Metropolitan Division. The Devils, who finished second in the division, will host Games 1 and 2 of the series next week.

Panarin took some criticism for not producing enough in last year’s playoffs, when he had six goals and 10 assists in 20 playoff games, and was a minus-5. He did, though, score the overtime goal (on the power play) in Game 7 to eliminate the Penguins in the first round. 

However, after a strong finish to the season this year, including a goal Thursday against Toronto, Panarin is hopeful he will be more productive in this year’s playoffs.

“I feel like I can play better,’’ he said. “I hope I'm not wrong.’’

After plodding through the first 51 games of the season, when he had 53 points, Panarin seemed to perk up after Rangers GM Chris Drury traded for Tarasenko from St. Louis and Kane from Chicago.

In Tarasenko’s first game with the Blueshirts, against the Seattle Kraken Feb. 10, Panarin set up his fellow Russian for a goal on his second shift as a Ranger. And in the final 31 games, Panarin had 17 goals and 22 assists, giving him 29 goals and 92 points for the season.

Along the way, Panarin, in the final two months, began to click with Zibanejad, and then Trocheck, too. In 11 consecutive games playing with Zibanejad and Tarasenko from March 12-31, Panarin had six goals and six assists. Then, playing the last six with Trocheck and Tarasenko, he had four goals and four assists.

Finding chemistry with Trocheck — with whom he’d played most of the first half of the season — wasn’t something that just happened all of a sudden one day, Panarin said. Rather, it was something that developed over time.

“Just, more time talking to each other,’’ he said. “Especially right now with Vladdy. We’re trying to figure out where you have to be in a game. I feel like we’ve [gotten to] know each other more and more, and then of course . . . when you play all year together, you understand where this guy can go, or he understands where I can go.’’

Trocheck agreed, but added that having Tarasenko on the line made a difference, too.

“Playing with ‘Bread’ [Panarin] from the start of the season, you just had to get used to certain things and the tendencies that he has,’’ Trocheck said. “There's a learning curve for both of us to try to get used to each other. And Vladdy stepped in and kind of filled a void that we might have needed [to be filled] early on. He does a lot of the little things that you don't really notice, but are a huge help to a line.’’

Notes & quotes: Noel Acciari’s goal at 12:21 of the third period was the game-winner for Toronto. Filip Chytil appeared to tie the game with 1.9 seconds remaining and the Rangers’ goalie pulled for the extra skater, but video review determined Chytil had kicked the puck in, and the goal was waved off.

For the Rangers and Devils, this will be their first playoff meeting since the 2012 Eastern Conference Final, won by the Devils.

Kaapo Kakko scored the Rangers’ other goal, while Timothy Liljegren and William Nylander scored for Toronto.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

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.