Artemi Panarin will usually try to disassociate from hockey during his days away from the ice, but after the Devils evened this first-round playoff series with wins in Games 3 and 4 at the Garden, it was at the forefront of the Rangers star wing’s mind during the team’s off day on Tuesday.
The fact Panarin has yet to score a goal in this series probably made it weigh heavier on his mind.
Games 1 and 2 saw a disciplined game from Panarin, who combined for two assists, five shots on goal and zero giveaways in the Rangers’ two wins.
He had a couple of scoring chances in Game 3 that he couldn’t capitalize on, but by Game 4, Panarin looked like a borderline shell of himself.
Just like the Rangers need Panarin and his 90-plus-point contributions during the regular season, the team will not achieve their goal of winning the Stanley Cup without offensive production from him.
“I think maybe I have to hold the puck more,” Panarin told The Post after practice Wednesday afternoon in Tarrytown. “Sometimes, I feel like I can turn back and save the puck. I try and, like, make some passes because maybe [I don’t] believe in myself enough to hold it that extra second with my [linemates]. It’s just bad timing, I feel. Not everything, if you watch the games, I have great chances the first three games. I hit the post and all that stuff.
“One or two pucks go in, it’s going to be a different picture right now.”
There has been much discussion surrounding Panarin’s inconsistent play in the playoffs for much of his career — this is now his seventh postseason.
Though he scored arguably the most important goal of the Rangers’ run to the conference finals last year, in overtime of Game 7 of the first-round matchup with the Penguins, part of a 16-point showing through 20 contests, Panarin did not shine on the big stage the way the Rangers had hoped.
The game changes in the playoffs, and Panarin’s high-risk style can get him in trouble this time of year.
He’s conscious of that, which appears to get in the way of what he does best: generating dangerous scoring chances that only he would dare to attempt.
“For sure, there’s pressure,” he said. “I talked about it before the playoffs, I had a feeling of pressure. Before the first game, I was like shaking in the locker room. Especially when I can’t score. But it’s not [my] first time, keep trying to work and do my best. Prepare myself for [the] next game and help the team win.”
Panarin is not the only Ranger who has been snakebitten.
Mika Zibanejad hasn’t scored a single goal, either, and Alexis Lafreniere hasn’t registered a point.
Vladimir Tarasenko also dropped off from the first two games. The Rangers as a whole need to elevate their game.
No one, however, can do what Panarin does. When Panarin is skating freely, creating opportunities in transition and threading passes only he can complete, the points pile up and the Rangers reap the benefits.
The Rangers need Panarin to be sure of himself on the offensive side of the puck.
Second-guessing the style that has taken him from an undrafted player out of the Kontinental Hockey League to one of the NHL’s biggest stars won’t do him or the Rangers any good.
“I have experience,” Panarin said. “That’s why I keep trying to keep my confidence the same way.”