SUNRISE, Fla. – It wasn’t looking good for the New York Rangers. A two-goal lead evaporated in the third period, and a team that hadn’t lost consecutive games all postseason long was on the prowl.
Somehow, the Blueshirts weathered the storm and snuck out of Amerant Bank Arena with a wild, 5-4 overtime win over the Florida Panthers on Sunday, taking a two-games-to-one lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Final. “The third (period) was probably our toughest go in the series so far,” said Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette. “We were up 4-2, we were under siege and they were able to capitalize.
That was by far their best period. It was a pretty even game going into the third period, and they came out and started well..
.they got the goal, they pressed, they got another one and the building is in it. So, it was moving in their direction.
” Alex Wennberg scored the game-winner just 5:35 into the extra session on just the Rangers’ 23rd shot on goal all night; Florida meanwhile, had a stunning 108 total shot attempts (37 on goal) on the night, including a 41-10 discrepancy in attempts in that third period in which Aleksander Barkov and Gustav Forsling got the game tied through regulation. The Panthers were arguably the better team on Sunday, and inarguably dominated the later stages of the game. It didn’t matter.
In an understandably quiet and solemn home dressing room in Sunrise, that Florida controlled the play from the third period on mattered little. “I.
