The Florida Panthers got off to a slow start, pinned in their own end during the early moments of the first. The Rangers were pressing hard and were also defending their own blue line very tightly, meeting and stripping the puck off the Panthers with aggression.
It didn’t take long for the Rangers to get on the board first through Charlie Lindgren. A play that was sprung beautifully by Artemi Panarin was finished off by Lindgren, who buried his shot after Ryan Strome found him from the other side of Sam Montembeault‘s crease.