NHL Playoff Fans React to Barclay Goodrow, New York Rangers Outlasting Florida Panthers In OT At Madison Square Garden

rangers panthers game 2 ec finals (1)

The New York Rangers’ effort during Game 1 of the NHL Eastern Conference final series against the Florida Panthers was harshly questioned by NHL insiders. 

Performing before a home crowd, the Rangers were outhit, outshot and outhustled, resulting in a shutout.

Opening Friday’s Game 2 at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers started strong and finished stronger as Barclay Goodrow scored at 14:01 of overtime, lifting the Rangers to a 2-1 victory.

“(The win) was huge,” Goodrow told ESPN moments after connecting on his fourth postseason marker. “As a team, it was way better than Game 1.

With the series tied at one game apiece, Game 3 is scheduled for Sunday in Amerant Bank Arena.

X (Twitter) users responded to Goodrow knocking the puck down mid-air and skating into position to beat Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (28 saves) …

The scene appeared electric before Friday’s opening puck drop …

To prepare mentally and physically for a rebound effort, the Rangers went through their pre-game warmup routines …

Goal. Fights. Repeat? Setting off a chaotic goal celebration, Rangers forward Vincent Trocheck opened the scoring off a slam dunk. In the moments that followed, however, Florida’s Carter Verhaeghe unloaded on Alexis Lafreniere, which drew penalties on both …

The Panthers attempted to establish a physical tone, but paid for it when Dmitry Kulikov received an interference penalty on an Alex Wennberg check …

As Goodrow attempted to apply tough defense against Aleksander Barkov, the Rangers’ forward was called for interference on an obvious flop play. It proved to be a big call …

Benefitting from the overlooked flop, Verhaeghe scored on the power play, his eighth of the playoffs to brighten the mood in the Sunshine State. But only briefly …

The Rangers lost Jimmy Vessey following an open-ice check by left winger Ryan Lomberg …

Sixty minutes of regulation play was not enough for Game 2 …

Goodrow connected on four goals in 80 regular-season games, but has matched his scoring output in just 12 postseason outings …

Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin posted some interesting stats Friday …

Final score: Rangers 2, Panthers 1 (OT) …

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