The New York Rangers got an overtime goal from Barclay Goodrow to even their Eastern Conference Final series against the Florida Panthers at one game apiece.
Vincent Trocheck, who was picked by the Panthers with the No. 64 overall selection in the 2011 NHL Draft and skated parts of his first seven seasons with Florida, opened the scoring. Trocheck has tallied four of his seven goals this postseason against former teams (also three vs. the Hurricanes) and has established a new career high for goals in a playoff year.
Carter Verhaeghe (8-6—14 in 13 GP) pulled the Panthers even with his team-leading eighth goal of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He established a career-high for most goals in a postseason, besting his total from 2023 (seven in 21 GP). It was also his fourth career power-play goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and tied for the second most in franchise history. Only Sam Reinhart has more (five).
Goodrow scored just six minutes into the first overtime to give the Rangers the 2-1 victory.
Vincent Trocheck (1-1—2) recorded his seventh multi-point game of the postseason, tied with Mika Zibanejad (7 GP in 2022) for the second-most multi-point outings in a playoff year in Rangers history. Brian Leetch (9 GP in 1994) is the only player with more.
News and Notes
Igor Shesterkin is the third goaltender in Rangers history to post eight or more wins in multiple postseasons, joining Henrik Lundqvist (3x; most: 13 in 2014) and Mike Richter (2x; most: 16). The appearance in this contest marked the 40th of his career in the playoffs, the fourth most in Rangers playoff history. He has allowed three or fewer goals in 33 of his last 34 playoff games dating back to Game 5 of the First Round in 2022.
The Rangers snapped Sergei Bobrovsky’s 12-game winning streak in playoff contests that required overtime, which dated to Game 2 of the 2019 Second Round (w/ CBJ). Bobrovsky’s streak was tied with Patrick Roy (12-0 from 1993 to 1996), who recorded 11 of his victories with the Canadiens and one with the Avalanche, for the longest run in Stanley Cup Playoffs history.
The two teams will meet again on Sunday, May 27.
