There are a lot of things that make the New York Rangers one of the NHL’s best teams and helped them take home the Presidents’ Trophy with the league’s best regular season record. Their power play is at the very top of that list, as is an extremely deep roster that has high-end, top-tier talent leading it. Artemi Panarin is a consistent MVP candidate, Chris Kreider has cemented himself among the Rangers’ all-time greats with his playoff performance this year, Adam Fox is a Norris-caliber defenseman and Igor Shesterkin is as dominant and game-changing as any goaltender going right now.
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Put all of those things together, and that is one very formidable Stanley Cup contender.
Despite all of those strengths, there’s one area where the Rangers have struggled over the past couple of years, and it’s starting to show itself again as they get deeper into the postseason.
That would be their 5-on-5 play.
In the Rangers’ Game 1 loss to the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference final, they lost the 5-on-5 goal battle by a 2-0 margin while also controlling just 47 percent of the expected goals (via Natural Stat Trick). Going back over the past six games, the Rangers have been outscored by a 10-13 margin during 5-on-5 play and have controlled just 47 percent of the expected goals during 5-on-5 play over that stretch. Eight playoff teams have played at least five playoff games during that stretch. None of them had a lower expected goals share than the Rangers (who own a 3-3 record in those games), while the Rangers are also the only one of those teams under 48 percent.
This is not a new development for the Rangers, and in their defense, they do tend to significantly outperform their 5-on-5 analytics. Mainly because they have elite finishing talent, a great goaltender and great special teams. But there is a ceiling for how far a team like that can go, and Stanley Cup champions tend to perform better during 5-on-5 play. The Rangers are going to need that to get through a Florida team that is better than either of their first two opponents so far in these playoffs.
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Florida Panthers at New York Rangers — Game 2
How to watch: 8 p.m. ET on ESPN, SN
Panthers lead series 1-0
Series odds: Panthers -300, Rangers +240
- Despite their strong start to the playoffs, Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky was not posting overly dominant numbers in the early part of the postseason. That has rapidly started to change. He has allowed two goals or less in six consecutive games, owning a .935 save percentage during that stretch.
- Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk continues to elevate his game come playoff time. His goal in Game 1 brings him to 16 points (five goals, 11 assists) in 12 playoff games this season. He is up to 40 points (16 goals, 24 assists) in 32 games over the past two postseasons. That is a 102.5 point-pace per 82 games.
- Rangers defenseman Adam Fox has yet to make a big impact offensively this postseason. After topping the 70-point mark in each of the past three regular seasons, he has zero goals and four assists in 11 playoff games so far.
- Perhaps even more concerning is that of the four Rangers defense pairings that have played at least 30 minutes together this postseason, the Fox-Ryan Lindgren duo has — by far — the worst expected goals share on the team (44.7 percent).
- Sam Reinhart has made himself an obscene amount of money this season. Between regular season and playoffs he has scored 62 goals in 94 games.
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(Photo of Sergei Bobrovsky and Brandon Montour: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)