The general consensus around the NHL is that the Panthers are the team to beat in the East.
Such a notion was reaffirmed when the Rangers, who sat just two points and one win behind them in the standings entering the matchup, fell 4-2 to Florida on Monday night at Madison Square Garden after a feisty back-and-forth game.
The loss counted as the Blueshirts’ second in a row and the second in a month filled with benchmark opponents.
Toronto, and now Florida, have shown the Rangers what they’ll be stacking up against in the playoffs.
The scoreboard read 2-2 at the start of the final frame, which was ultimately the only period played entirely at five-on-five.
Florida had pieced together a few dangerous scoring chances off the rush throughout the night, but none had resulted in a goal until the 6:11 mark of the third period.
Ryan Lomberg flung a long wrist shot that blew past Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin to regain the lead for the visitors.
Shesterkin had been solid up until that point and ultimately finished with 25 saves. The game-winning shot, however, seemed to catch the Russian netminder off guard.
This game had some bite to it from the beginning. The hits were hard and came in abundance.
Even Artemi Panarin was throwing his body around and looking to finish his checks.
Adam Fox checked Matthew Tkachuk along the boards in the first period, which drew the ire of Sam Bennett and prompted Vincent Trocheck to swoop in for backup.
Former Ranger Niko Mikkola joined in on pinning Fox and Trocheck against the Panthers bench before Tkachuk was ultimately sent to the box for roughing.
In the final seconds of the Rangers’ first power play, Will Cuylle jammed in a rebound to give his team a 1-0 lead.
Special teams generated a bulk of the action through the first two periods.
A pair of goals from Sam Reinhart gave the Panthers a one-goal lead by the 12:56 mark of the second period, the first of which came on Florida’s power play.
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Panthers forward Anton Lundell drew blood from Braden Schneider on a high stick, which led to a four-minute power play for the Rangers.
Chris Kreider then stayed with a rebound off a Trocheck shot and put it past Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to knot the game at two-all.