Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final took place at Madison Square Garden on Friday, with the New York Rangers defeating the Florida Panthers 2-1 thanks to a goal by Barclay Goodrow at 14:01 in overtime.
Goodrow beat Sergei Bobrovsky with a wrist shot after receiving a pass from Vincent Trocheck at the top of the slot during a rush.
Goodrow added, “I really don’t remember how it went in.” “I just remember Trocheck made a great pass to me and [Will Cuylle] was driving to the net, opening up the lane, so it was a great play by those two … It feels good, I think, whenever you can do something to help your team. Obviously, I think we played a pretty good game tonight, and it was nice to get rewarded with the win.”
At Madison Square Garden on Friday, the New York Rangers defeated the Florida Panthers 2-1 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final thanks to a goal by Barclay Goodrow at 14:01 of overtime.
During the rush, Goodrow received a feed from Vincent Trocheck at the top of the slot and beat Sergei Bobrovsky with a wrist shot.
Goodrow added, “I really don’t remember how it went in.” “I just remember Trocheck made a great pass to me and [Will Cuylle] was driving to the net, opening up the lane, so it was a great play by those two … It feels good, I think, whenever you can do something to help your team. Obviously, I think we played a pretty good game tonight, and it was nice to get rewarded with the win.”
Shortly after Goodrow prevailed in a face-off in the defensive zone, the goal was scored.
Goodrow’s contributions to the team are well-known, according to Trocheck. “Every night, he’s going to bring the same game. We use him in all different situations. … In these playoffs, he’s been outstanding for us on both ends of the ice.”
Defenseman Aaron Ekblad of the Panthers commented, “Although it’s tough to lose in overtime, at the end of the day [we went] 1-1 in their building.” “We anticipated that they would perform tonight, and they did not disappoint. It was a close game that we lost. We’ll proceed. We need to finish this quickly.”
near 4:12 of the first session, Trocheck gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead with a tap-in near the side of the net following a pass from Fox. After losing the first game 3-0, it was New York’s first goal of the series.
“It got the building going, that was big,” stated Jacob Trouba, captain of the Rangers. “Obviously a huge start. We wanted to get the first goal. They battled back and it was a tight game, and that’s what we’re going to expect every game in the series.”
At 18:09 in the first, Verhaeghe scored a power-play goal from the slot to knot the score at one.
Verhaeghe stated, “They got one (goal), but it was a good response,” “To go into the second tied, the game was there [but] they came out on top. … I think that’s what happens when you get the two best teams in the conference. … It’s going to be a battle.”
The Rangers managed to prevail even though they let up a power-play goal and were 0 for 4 when they had the man advantage.
Peter Laviolette, the coach of New York, stated, “I thought it was a pretty competitive game both ways.” “I did like our game better and we end up getting a big overtime goal to move in. You definitely feel a lot better going down to Florida 1-1 than 0-2, and so it was a big win for us.”
The Panthers had won seven straight playoff games, including one in OT the previous year.
“We didn’t expect to win every game,” Verhaeghe stated. “They came out strong. We got the split. We go home and refocus.”