SUNRISE, Fla. — By the time Artemi Panarin got on the board in this Eastern Conference Final, it was far too late to celebrate.
For the first half of this playoff run, it appeared that Panarin had finally defeated the narrative that grabbed hold of his last two postseasons.
Instead, it struck right back at him in this Eastern Conference Final, when his goal 18:20 into the third period of the Rangers’ 2-1 loss in Game 6 to Florida counted for his first since Game 3 of the second round — an eight-game drought that lasted nearly the entirety of a series in which the Blueshirts consistently struggled for offense.
Panarin was not the only Rangers star to conjure a disappearing act in the conference finals — three-fifths of their top power play unit didn’t score a goal against the Panthers, and a fourth, Chris Kreider, had just one.
This season-ending series is not solely on No. 10, or anywhere close to it.
But, the fact remains, the Rangers’ marquee superstar had just three assists and one goal in this series.
“They have much more time in our zone than we got [in theirs],” Panarin said. “We kind of played conservative, but they’re kind of a pressure team, all five guys. It’s dangerous, but it’s worked for them. There can be odd-man rushes, but they defended pretty well.”
Panarin produced a pair of decent chances early in the third period of Game 6 off the rush, one of which was parried aside by Sergei Bobrovsky and the second of which Bobrovosky gloved.
Those, however, came few and far between throughout six games in which Panarin was largely shut down.
His linemates, Alexis Lafreniere and Vincent Trocheck, picked up the slack — and in so doing, shielded Panarin from a lot of criticism.
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Lafreniere was the Rangers’ best skater in the series, Trocheck was their best skater in the playoffs writ large and their line — the only one Peter Laviolette did not touch when he put his forwards into a blender Saturday — put up passable numbers in the series as a whole.
Panarin’s creativity and swagger, though, rarely shone through in this series, and he didn’t get off the schneid until it was far too late.
This was the best year as a Ranger — the best year in the NHL, in fact — for the 32-year-old Panarin, who accounted for 120 regular-season points and would have been up front in the Hart Trophy conversation if not for a set of players having historically terrific seasons who will end up ahead of him on most ballots.
And when he raised his leg for a signature kick after scoring to end Game 3 against Carolina in overtime — at the time his ninth point in seven playoff games — it looked like his playoff arc would follow that of his regular season.
But it wasn’t to be.
“Tonight, whole game was 1-0,” Panarin said. “And then it’s pretty close. One goal can change everything. Not our way. Can’t do anything now.”
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