Game 1 takeaways: Rangers open Eastern Conference Final with shutout loss to Panthers

NEW YORK - The Rangers are going to have to do better than that if they plan on advancing any further.

Wednesday's performance in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Florida Panthers wasn't their worst of these playoffs, but it wasn't nearly good enough, either.

The Blueshirts looked disjointed in their 3-0 loss at Madison Square Garden, both when it came to penetrating the Panthers' swarming forecheck and creating offensive looks. And on the few quality chances they did generate, they weren't able to convert.

"We can play better," head coach Peter Laviolette said. "I don't think that that was the best version of ourselves, and so we'll look to see what they did, see what we can do better in all areas of the game. I think there's more for us to give and more for us to do out there."

The Rangers were limited to 23 shots while being shutout for the first time since Dec. 9 in Washington, with the late-game magic that showed up repeatedly in previous rounds eluding them Wednesday.

They can certainly do a better job of gaining clean zone entries and establishing more possession time, but the Panthers aren't going to make it easy on them. Game 1 served as an early example of why they tied for fewest goals allowed in the NHL this season − and why it's going to be extremely difficult to beat them four times in the next six games, if it gets that far.

"We’re very comfortable in the low-scoring games," Florida star Matthew Tkachuk said. "We've got a lot of offensive guys on the team, but guys have bought into a certain style of play that has worked for us and has to try to keep working for us. That's the best way to win in playoffs. It's a hard style to play, but it's a hard style to play against."

It didn't feel like the Panthers were clicking on all cylinders either − "I thought we were just okay with it, to be honest with you," head coach Paul Maurice said − but that only means the Rangers should expect an improved effort in Game 2 on Friday at 8 p.m. back at MSG.

They'll certainly need a jolt to make sure they don't travel to the Sunshine State over the weekend in a 2-0 hole, which will start with showing they can breakthrough the Cats' tight coverage and beat them at their own game.

"It boils down to playing north-south hockey," Rangers veteran Chris Kreider said. "That's the kind of hockey that works this time year − and that’s the kind of hockey they played, and we didn't."

A low-event game

Tkachuk struck for the first goal of the series with 3:34 to play in the first period, but it was far from the best chance for either team in the opening period. Igor Shesterkin seemed caught off guard by the quick wrister in transition, with Tkachuk's shot sneaking by his glove hand to help the Panthers draw first blood for a 1-0 lead.

"It was smart because it was shot off the rush, instead of trying to wait for more or find more," Maurice said. "Sometimes it's just the simplicity that we need in our game to set a bit of a tone."

The Rangers countered with only five shots on goal in the opening period, but that doesn't include Braden Schneider's late breakaway that beat Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky but clanged off the post.

Rookie Will Cuylle opened the second with another breakaway chance, but Bobrovsky stopped that one with his right pad. He also stoned Vincent Trocheck on a rush opportunity a couple minutes later, but New York went cold from there with a stretch of 14:23 without a shot on goal.

It carried on that way into the third, where it looked like the Panthers doubled their lead on a goal from Oliver Ekman-Larsson with 11:15 to play. But a coach's challenge overturned the goal after it was determined that Florida forward Ryan Lomberg entered the crease and interfered with Shesterkin before being shoved from behind by Ryan Lindgren.

"I thought they got it right," Maurice said. "I thought that was fair. I wasn’t complaining about it."

An own goal

That kept the Rangers within striking distance, but it didn't end up mattering because they never found the equalizer − although they did come awfully close in the final 10 minutes.

A wild sequence with about seven minutes remaining resulted in three scramble saves from Bobrovsky and a shot from Alexis Lafrenière that hit the post. Florida immediately followed by getting whistled for too many men on the ice, and while New York's power play created a couple dangerous chances, the tying goal never came.

"We had a few breakaways, but our whole entire game has to be a lot better," Kreider said. "We got a couple looks off the rush, but that comes at the back end of them having long shifts in our zone."

Shortly thereafter, an attempted pass from Carter Verhaeghe inadvertently deflected in off Lafrenière's stick, with the own goal giving the Panthers a 2-0 lead with 3:48 to play.

It was a tough moment for the 22-year-old, but it's hard to fault him for hustling to try and block a passing lane.

"Everyone's probably been in that situation," captain Jacob Trouba said when asked about Lafrenière's blunder. "It’s just a tough bounce. Obviously, it’s not what he was trying to do. It's nothing to even worry about. It should be out of his head already by now. Just one of those unfortunate breaks."

That sealed the Rangers' fate, with Sam Bennett finishing off the Florida win with an empty-netter.

Rare line juggling

Laviolette attempted to provide a spark by making rare line changes midway through the game, with the most notable sending Filip Chytil up to the top line.

The 24-year-old hadn't played since Game 3 of the second round against the Carolina Hurricanes due to illness, but declared himself ready to go this week and slotted back in to start the conference final. It marked Chytil's first home game since suffering a suspected concussion at the Garden on Nov. 2.

He started on the third line, but took a few second-period shifts alongside Kreider and Mika Zibanejad following a high-sticking penalty on Jack Roslovic. It didn't last long, though, with Roslovic rejoining the top line to begin the third and Chytil going a stretch of 14:31 without taking a shift.

"He was fine," Laviolette said when asked if Chytil had any physical ailments. "The way the game was winding down there – the timeouts, the look at the (Ekman-Larsson) goal − we had fresh players out there all the time. We ended up double shifting our guys quite a bit to try and chase that goal."

The juggling continued from there, with Laviolette trying out a handful of combinations, but none produced the desired results. That, coupled with two unsuccessful power-play opportunities, left the Rangers down 1-0 to begin the series.

"They weren’t making those mistakes to kind of fuel our transition," Trouba said. "We weren’t advancing through zones and getting pucks deep and get into the forecheck. We’ve got to do a better job breaking out and kind of play that game of just advancing pucks both ways. That's what it's going to boil down to. It’s a tight game. There isn’t a ton of shots. It's playoff hockey. I think a lot of it is capitalizing on mistakes and not fueling mistakes for their offense."

The only unit that was able to get much going for the Blueshirts was the same line they relied on all season. They outshot the Panthers, 8-4, while Artemi Panarin, Trocheck and Lafrenière were on the ice together, according to Natural Stat Trick, even though Panarin and Lafrenière finished with negative-three ratings while Trocheck was minus-two.

No other Rangers’ trio generated more than one shot on goal.

The other three lines, who took on different looks at various points in the game, spent most of their time defending due to being too fine with their breakout attempts, as evidenced by 12 giveaways, and not winning enough battles once those pucks ended up in 50-50 situations.

"I think we have a tendency to sometimes try to do a little too much when it's not there, instead of just playing increasingly more and more simple and understanding we’re not doing a good job of getting through the neutral zone," Kreider said. "The desire is there. The want is there, but you have to work smart and not just hard. We end up being disjointed."

That ended up being more important than any of the chatter about Florida's physicality heading into Game 1.

The hits were just about even − 29-28 in favor of the Panthers − but the game was surprisingly light on chippiness and after-the-whistle scrums. That will surely increase as they as they get deeper into the series, but as Laviolette noted, the Rangers will need "a little bit more of everything" to flip the script against an opponent who looks built for moments like these.

"A little bit more execution on (zone) exits, a little more execution through the neutral zone, a little more press offensively, a little more physicality, a little more detailed defense," Laviolette said. "There's a lot of little things you can do that can add up and make a difference inside of the game."

Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NY Rangers open conference final with Game 1 loss to Panthers