The Rangers snapped an extended power-play drought early in Tuesday’s tilt, but that proved to be one of the few highlights in a crushing Eastern Conference Final Game 4 loss in Sunrise, Fla.
Florida dominated the final 40 minutes, outshooting the Rangers 27-10 over the final two periods before coming away with a 3-2 win in overtime on Sam Reinhart’s power-play goal.
Rangers analyst Steve Valiquette was hard-pressed to describe the Panthers’ win as anything but sheer domination.
“When you look at the big picture, the Rangers had a good start in the first period,” Valiquette said on MSG Network’s post-game show. “They had strong five-on-five minutes in the first period and they were strong on the power play.
“In the second and third period, that quickly, and in overtime, that was a full takeover [by] the best players on Florida,” Valiquette said.
Vincent Trochek got the Blueshirts on board with a goal while on a man advantage 8:51 into the game, his eighth tally of the postseason.
The Rangers narrowly missed taking a 2-0 lead on a Mika Zibanejad power-play goal attempt later in the period.
Nevertheless, the Panthers’ solid second period — which included goals from Sam Bennett and a man-advantage score from Carter Verhaeghe — set the tone for the rest of the night.
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If not for a third-period wrist shot goal from Alexis Lafrenière, the Rangers would not have had a chance to even go for their fifth overtime win this postseason.
“I felt like it was hard to really put your finger on something that we could’ve maybe made an adjustment in between periods to slow them down,” Valiquette said. “That’s a tough one to swallow.”
The series shifts to Madison Square Garden for Game 5 on Thursday night as the Rangers will try to grab a 3-2 series lead.
