The Rangers were not quick enough, were not hard enough, were not sharp enough and were not committed enough for a Game 1 of the conference finals. The Panthers, they were all the things that the Blueshirts were not in Wednesday’s 3-0 match at the Garden.
All this talk about menace that preceded the Puddy Tats and it turns out that Florida’s physicality manifested itself in puck battles and in territorial battles. The Puddy Tats took advantage of Ranger carelessness to own the puck for shifts at a time below the hash marks.
There were times that the Blueshirts looked like the kid in the school yard who’d had his hat stolen and was desperately trying to intercept it as the bullies tossed it back and forth over his head.
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