Rangers win Game 2 thriller on Barclay Goodrow’s OT goal

NHL

By Mollie Walker

There were the Rangers we’ve come to know in overtime of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final on Friday night at Madison Square Garden. 

The team that’s coined ”No Quit in New York” as their slogan for a reason. 

Once Barclay Goodrow scored 14:01 into the extra period to take a 2-1 win over the Panthers and even up the series at one win a piece as it heads down to Florida, the prior stressful 60 minutes of regulation suddenly didn’t hold as much weight. 

Despite the fact it was a 1-1 game at the start of the third period, it felt like the Panthers — once again — had the upper hand for a majority of the game.

Even though the Rangers opened the scoring less than five minutes into the game, Florida netted the equalizer by the end of the first period and never allowed the home team to fully dictate the pace of play. 

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Struggling to connect on their rush opportunities, the Rangers seemed to be consistently getting knocked off the puck in transition.

The Panthers broke up most odd-man rush chances and were first to most pucks. 

But the Rangers hung on through the bruising hits, the difficulties they had in transition and the stretches of suffocating moments in their own end to pull out a much-needed victory. 

The Rangers were a lot crisper inside of their system and harder on the forecheck in this one. 

And with Matt Rempe coming in for Kaapo Kakko, who was a healthy scratch in an Eastern Conference Final game for the second time in three years, the 6-foot-8 ½ forward had the impact on the building that he always does.

The crowd ven cheered when Goodrow was kicked out of the faceoff circle and Rempe stepped in to win the draw. 

It all allowed the Rangers to strike first with their initial goal of the series after getting blanked in Game 1.

The second line bulldozed back into the offensive zone and went straight for the net as Adam Fox fed Vincent Trocheck for the easy tap-in and the 1-0 lead at the 4:12 mark of the first period. 

Alexis Lafreniere knocked over Carter Verhaeghe in the process and drew the ire of the Panthers forward, causing a scrum to break out as the Garden crowd sang the goal song. 

The Rangers earned a power play out of all the extracurricular activities, but the Panthers penalty kill has shackled the top unit so far in this series.

After going 0-for-2 in Game 1, the Blueshirts went 0-for-4 in the Game 2 victory, including a four-on-three opportunity for 1:25 in the second period. 

But the Panthers power play evened the game at 1-1 at the end of the opening frame on a goal from Verhaeghe. 

By the second half of the second period, the Rangers were down to 11 forwards after Jimmy Vesey absorbed a massive hit from Panthers forward Ryan Lomberg.

The fourth-line wing was hunched over on the bench for some time before he made his way to the locker room, where he remained for the remainder of the game with what the team described as an upper-body injury. 

If Vesey is unable to go in Game 3, it’s possible that Blake Wheeler will make his Rangers playoff debut and compete in his first game since suffering a season-ending injury Feb. 15.