PREVIEW: Panthers and Rangers meet for Eastern Conference Final rematch

NEW YORK – These matchups tend to bring out the best in the Florida Panthers.

Meeting for the first time since last year’s playoffs, the Panthers will look to start their journey with a win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.

Last year, the Panthers defeated the Rangers in six games in the Eastern Conference Final.

Having defeated the Boston Bruins (twice) and the Vegas Golden Knights in recent playoff rematches, the Panthers should be ready for another strong showing in New York.

“It’s memory,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “You remember the New York playoffs, the Boston playoffs and the Vegas playoffs. These are really intense, very fast, challenging games. You don’t remember any of the regular season games you played against them. Energy is built with the memory of how these games were played.

The Panthers, who are 4-3-1, have earned points in four of their last five games but enter tonight’s matchup hoping to rebound from Tuesday’s 5-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild.

Although Aleksander Barkov (lower body) and Tomas Nosek (upper body) are likely to return to action in the near future, the Panthers will continue to run with 11 forwards and seven defensemen against the Rangers as no roster changes are expected.

Sergei Bobrovsky will get the nod at the net.

Bobrovsky was particularly strong against the Rangers in last year’s Eastern Conference Final; including a stunning shutout with 24 saves in a 3-0 win in Game 1.

The Panthers are still feeling some of that magic in their return to the Big Apple.

“It’s always special to play here,” forward Carter Verhaeghe said. “It was a tough fight after beating these guys last year. It’s always a good game against these guys. We’re expecting something good. It’s always a lot of fun.”

Having won the league’s last President’s Cup, the Rangers picked up where they left off in terms of regular season success. Despite losing in regulation, they earned promotion to the Metropolitan Division by going 5-0-1 in their first six games with a goal difference of +19.

The Rangers, who have scored at least four goals in each of their first six games, enter tonight’s game off the back of a 7-2 win in Montreal on Tuesday. In that win, Filip Chytil led New York with a pair of goals while Igor Shesterkin stopped 21 of 23 shots coming between the pipes.

Shesterkin, who has a 4-0-1 record with a .932 save percentage, is likely to start tonight.

Artemi Panarin, who started the season on a six-game winning streak, leads the Rangers in both goals (6) and points (13). Vincent Trocheck and Adam Fox are in second place with six points each, while seven other skaters have already recorded at least five points.

“Obviously he’s a fantastic player,” defenseman Gustav Forsling said of Panarin. “He’s really talented. We try to take time and space from him there. “He’s good when he has time and we want to put pressure on him.”

The Panthers impressively swept the Rangers in last year’s Eastern Conference Final on their way to the Stanley Cup. The team achieved success on the road in this series, winning in two of their three trips to Madison Square Garden.

During the regular season, the Panthers also went 2-0-1 against New York in 2023-24.

With last year’s playoffs just a few months away, the remaining intensity from this series will shift to tonight’s tilt.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Forsling said. “We played a few months ago. They were very, very exciting games against them in the playoffs. We’re excited to bring it tonight.”

THEY SAID THIS

“They’ve got some really good players, they’ve got a really good goalkeeper and I think that means staying committed to what we’re doing. We’re not really focusing too much on what they’re doing. It’s just kind of finding our way in our system.” – Carter Verhaeghe

“Of course you get a little more excited. MSG is such a great building to play in. You always have so much energy here.” – Gustav Forsling

FIVE CATS STATISTICS

– Panthers were 3-0-0 when Eetu Luostarinen scored.

– Sam Bennett has scored points in six of the last eight games.

– Anton Lundell wins 55% of faceoffs.

– Sam Reinhart scored a team-high seven points at even strength.

-Florida ranks sixth in the NHL with a 53.9 CF% at 5-on-5.

PROJECTED LINEUP (ABOUT THE CHANGE)

Forward

Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Sam Reinhart

Evan Rodrigues – Jesper Boqvist – Mackie Samoskevich

AJ Greer – Patrick Giles – Uvis Balinskis

defenders

Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola-Dmitry Kulikov

Nate Schmidt – Adam Boqvist

Goalkeepers

Sergei Bobrovsky

Spencer Knight

LATEST PROCESSES:

– 11 October: F Patrick Giles recalled to Florida

HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN

When: Thursday, October 24 at 19:00 ET

Where: Madison Square Garden – New York, NY

TV and Broadcast: Panthers+, WSFL-TV, WHDT, WFTX, ESPN+ (out of market)

Radio: 560 WQAM (Dade/Broward); 1230 WBZT-AM and 92.1 WZZR-FM (Palm Beach); 100.3 WCTH (Florida Keys); 101.7 WCZR (Treasure Coast); Panthers App; SiriusXM App and Streaming 931

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