Five months ago, the New York Rangers scored 12 goals against the Florida Panthers and lost the Eastern Conference finals in six games.
In the early portion of another season with high expectations, the goals that could not be consistently produced are occurring frequently. The Rangers attempt to maintain their high-scoring ways Thursday night when they host the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers.
New York scored 35 goals in 10 games in the first two playoff rounds against the Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes before encountering difficulties against Florida’s defense and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. The Rangers were blanked in the series opener and scored five times in the final three games after taking a two games to one lead.
After not making any major moves for a roster which claimed the President’s Trophy and scored the seventh-most goals last season, the Rangers are off to a 5-0-1 start. They have scored 31 goals, including 24 at even strength.
New York is on its longest point streak to start a season in team history and is the first team with 31 goals through the first six games since the Los Angeles Kings and New Jersey Devils in 1993-94.
The Rangers return home on a four-game winning streak since an overtime loss to the Utah Hockey Club in its home opener on Oct. 12. New York outscored the Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens 16-5 during the road trip.
The latest big night occurred in Tuesday’s 7-2 rout at Montreal when the Rangers scored four goals in the opening 11:05 while defenseman Ryan Lindgren made his season debut after sitting out with an upper-body injury. Six players scored as Filip Chytil tallied twice and 12 players finished with at least one point.
Kaappo Kakko scored and collected two assists while Braden Schneider, Jonny Brodzinski, Reilly Smith and Mika Zibanejad also scored. Artemi Panarin collected an assist and has 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in a season-opening six-game points streak.
“We got a lot out of all the lines right from the drop of the puck,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said “(It was) maybe the best team win of the year. I thought consistency from all lines just going over the boards was really good.”
The defending champions are starting a trip that culminates with two games against the Dallas Stars in Finland next week. Florida has scored 24 goals so far but also been held to two goals or fewer in four games.
The latest instance was a 5-1 loss to the visiting Minnesota Wild on Tuesday when Panthers players and coach Paul Maurice felt the effort was lacking. Florida allowed two goals in a span of 22 seconds in the first period and then two in a span of 2:07 in the second after Sam Bennett scored his fifth goal this season on a night when Bobrovsky was pulled from the net and remained one shy of his 400th career win.
Florida took the loss despite conceding a season-low 22 shots on goal as its offense generated 25 shots, marking the fifth time it was held under 30 shots on goal.
“There is an emotional level you have to get to, to play the way we play, or to play well in an NHL game and we were not there,” Maurice said “When you have a game that across the board, your best players were not your best players, the coach didn’t get them right. … We weren’t anywhere near where we needed to be.”
