Yahoo Sports Panthers creating chances, but know they need to ‘get more pucks on net’ vs Rangers
The Florida Panthers haven’t had a shortage of shot attempts through the first three games of their Eastern Conference final series against the New York Rangers.
The problem: Far too many aren’t getting to the net.
So while the Panthers are getting pressure on star Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin, they know there’s another level to their attack that they can unlock as they trail 2-1 in the best-of-7 series entering Game 4 on Tuesday.
“We definitely have to get more pucks on net,” Panthers forward Sam Bennett said Monday. “They’ve done a great job of blocking a lot of pucks, but we can still do a better job of getting more traffic to the net, more of our bodies to the net and then it’s just a matter of bearing down on opportunities after that.”
Throughout the first three games — a 3-0 Florida win in Game 1, 2-1 overtime loss in Game 2 and 5-4 overtime loss in Game 3 — the Panthers have generated 249 shot attempts, an average of 83 per game. However, only 92 of those shot attempts — just 37 percent — have gotten to Shesterkin.
In Game 3 in particular, the Panthers had a staggering 108-43 edge in shot attempts on the Rangers but only had 37 shots on goal. They had 42 of their shots blocked and another 29 miss the net completely.
“Lord knows we left most of our offense off shin pads or wide of the post,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said postgame.
For Maurice, what comes next is a balancing act. Even missed shots have the ability to put pressure on a goaltender, but there is a balance to consider between a high volume to attempts and a concerted effort to get to the net.
“I’ve never considered us a high shot-volume team, except we shoot a lot of pucks” Maurice said, adding that Game 3 “had to be an aberration around the National Hockey League. We were at 108 to 43 in shot attempts. You wouldn’t see that in the regular season, let alone a game like [Sunday]. Shooting less is a nice idea from the studio and sometimes on the line. You could have three guys on your bench saying ‘Hey, we can hold onto that one and try to change sides’ and stuff like that, but at no point will our game plan be ‘Hey, let’s shoot fewer pucks for better opportunities’ because what we’re trying to create is certainly goals, but we scored three in Game 1 and four in Game 3. That’s enough.”
Nevertheless, the Panthers know they have their hands full going up against a goaltender like Shesterkin and need to make his life as difficult as possible. They’ve already faced two talented goaltenders so far this postseason in Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy and Boston’s Jeremy Swayman. They figured out ways to beat them.
Now they have to do it again.
“You have to get the puck to the net,” forward Vladimir Tarasenko said, “but also we have to work in the hard areas more, stay in front of him and make it hard for him to make saves. The more you’re at the net front, the more chances to have to create a rebound or scoring chance.”
Added forward Eetu Luostarinen: “We have to go to the net with a purpose, get the goalie’s eyes. We did that in the first two rounds.”
Panthers show ‘more urgency’ in third period of Game 3 OT loss to Rangers. They need to build on it
Cleaning up defense
While the Panthers’ held the Rangers to just 43 shot attempts and 23 shots on goal Sunday, five of those shots found the back of the net.
“We didn’t give up a whole hell of a lot,” Maurice said. “You’re not under siege. It is what it is. We lost the game. We have a pretty good idea where we can be marginally better with the puck. I say marginally because if we make slight improvements with it, we’ll be pretty good.”
Of Florida’s 14 games this postseason, they have allowed more than three goals just three times — five apiece in their Game 3 loss to the Rangers and Game 1 loss to the Bruins, and six in their Game 4 loss to the Lightning.
Florida is 9-2 this playoffs when holding its opponent to three goals or fewer.
Rangers’ Jacob Trouba fined for elbowing Panthers’ Evan Rodrigues
The NHL’s department of player safety on Monday announced that Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba has been fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the collective bargaining agreement, for elbowing Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues during the second period on Sunday.
Trouba received a minor penalty for the elbow.
