Rangers vs. Panthers: Game 6 live updates (2024)

SUNRISE, Fla. — It’s over for the New York Rangers. The Florida Panthers advanced to their second straight Stanley Cup Final with a 2-1 win in Game 6, sending the Presidents’ Trophy winners out in the Eastern Conference final.

Sam Bennett’s goal with 48.5 seconds left in the first period gave the Panthers a lead they held into the third, when Vladimir Tarasenko buried a feed from Anton Lundell with 10:52 left to give them a 2-0 lead.

The Rangers, who chased too many of the games in this series and chased Florida too much, had no pushback after the two-goal deficit, worn down by a Panthers team that executed to near-perfection in front of Sergei Bobrovsky, who made 22 saves.

Artemi Panarin got New York on the board with 1:39 to play but the Rangers didn’t get another good look before the final horn.

New York goaltender Igor Shesterkin had the best performance in the series for either team and was again excellent in Game 6.

Still, the Rangers could not generate enough even with decent zone time and possession in this one.

Florida awaits the winner of the Edmonton Oilers versus Dallas Stars series in the Final. The Rangers go out at the same spot they did in 2022.

Going to be fascinating to see where the Rangers go from here. They appeared to be very well built, with strong centers, multiple elite wingers, a stout defense corps and one of the best goalies in the league.

The Panthers were clearly the better team in this series, but there's a strong case to run it back with this group (or something very close to it).

Will Rangers' owner James Dolan have the patience for that?

The Florida Panthers are going to get a second consecutive crack at the Stanley Cup, and they earned it, eliminating the Rangers with a 2-1 win Saturday night.

A huge early goal from Sam Bennett allowed the Panthers to tighten the screws on the Presidents' Trophy winners, who are faced with another offseason that started a bit early.

Florida, meanwhile, awaits the winner of the Western Conference final between the Oilers and Stars. Edmonton leads that series 3-2, with Game 6 taking place Sunday night.

Whoever winds up advancing will meet a team that, increasingly, has looked like one without any real weakness. They've got high-end skill, quality depth throughout the lineup and a goaltender that, once again, has raised his game in the postseason.

Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk with a money quote to ESPN's Emily Kaplan, on the Panthers' relentless play style:

"It's hard to play, but we like to think it's harder to play against."

Panthers defeat the Rangers 2-1 and head to the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight year.

They'll await the winner of the Stars and Oilers, who play their own Game 6 Sunday night. Edmonton leads that series 3-2.

Bobrovsky was 100 seconds from his second shutout of the series.

Now it gets itchy as the Panthers' lead is down to one, and the Rangers will get their big guns a breather with a timeout. Buckle up for what should be a great finish.

Artemi Panarin scores his first goal of the series with 1:39 left.

The Rangers still have life...

It's been said many times so far in this postseason, but it bears repeating: Gustav Forsling is really, really good. Florida plucked the dude on waivers in 2021 and has watched him turn into, no joke, one of the very best defensive defensem*n in the league.

He's not going about his job all that quietly either — we've seen ton of splashy plays like this chance-denial on a Rangers breakaway. What a player.

The Rangers, facing elimination, trail 1-0 with 20 minutes to go.

The Panthers have dominated third periods this series, but New York has been an excellent come-from-behind team all year.

We'll see if the Rangers have one more in them.

We talked earlier tonight about Mika Zibanejad's scoring drought, and he's going to be seeing that latest missed opportunity in his sleep: can't get his stick on a puck that bounced right through the crease and toward his stick with Bobrovsky out of the net.

He couldn't corral it, and this stays a 1-0 game.

NHL PR posted a stat earlier tonight that the Panthers are 7-0 when scoring first in potential series-clinching games — with four such games (prior to tonight) between this postseason and last.

One reason why is on display now: they've given up just three high-danger chances through 15 minutes of the second period since taking the lead at the end of the first. (edited)

Sam Bennett's goal was his 4th of the Eastern Conference finals, tying Matthew Tkachuk's franchise record for a conference final in Panthers history.

His three-game goal streak also ties a Florida playoff record.

I'm not the first to wonder this about Sam Bennett's goal to give Florida a 1-0 lead, but I'll repeat it for the sake of our blog:

What, uh, was Jacob Trouba doing here? He's the guy in white at the bottom of the screen.

Sam Bennett opens the scoring with a bar-down missile off a pass from Evan Rodrigues with 50 seconds left in the first period.

He has a knack for that: despite a .46 career points-per-game average, he raises that number substantially to .67 in the postseason.

And that is a big one.

New York's power play has had a brutal series, and that continued in the first period.

The top unit kept the puck in the offensive zone for an extended period of time, but it couldn't get any dangerous looks. In total, the Rangers got zero shots on the power play.

For a team that relies on the power play for so much production, that's far less than ideal.

The Panthers drew the first penalty of the game, a hook on Vincent Trocheck, and their top power play unit looked dangerous.

Aleksander Barkov whiffed on a look in front of the net, and he also set up a near-goal for Sam Reinhart. But Florida couldn't break through, and New York escapes — and perhaps gains a bit of momentum after the successful kill.

Igot Shesterkin with two more good stops, the last one on Evans Rodrigues walking off the wall with room.

Shesterkin with the successful kill.

I'm not sure any NHL player has raised their profile on this playoff stage as much as Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling.

He makes an early impact there breaking up a Mika Zibanejad rush opportunity with his stick, one of many impressive such plays he's turned into habit.

It's not even that Forsling has changed his level of play, he's been an outstanding player all season, but he's forced the league to take notice with his showing in these playoffs.