Mitch Marner got it pretty good in Toronto.
Elias Pettersson felt every ounce of it in Vancouver.
And, until Wednesday’s brilliant comeback, Darnell Nurse was the target in Edmonton.
In New York City, it’s Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider‘s turn under the microscope.
Criticism of these two point-free New York Rangers stars in the Eastern Conference Final is wholly justified through four games, in which they’ve been equally invisible against the Florida Panthers as they were prominent in Rounds 1 and 2 of the Stanley Cup tournament.
Against Washington and Carolina, the duo dominated.
Zibanejad racked up 14 points through those first 10 playoff games and was kept off the scoresheet on just one occasion.
The speedy Kreider put up 10 in 10, seven of them goals, and his series-clinching natural hat trick in the divisional final had talk radio wondering how his No. 20 might look hanging from Madison Square Garden’s iconic ceiling.
In Round 3, Zibanejad and Kreider are getting dunked on, caved in and outscored by Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (one assist).
“They’re working. We’re spending a little bit too much time playing defence,” said Rangers coach Peter Laviolette, electing to praise the Panthers than call out his own stars.
“They come at you hard. They dump a lot of pucks. They forecheck hard. So, you’re not spending time in the right zone. I think those players that you’re talking about, they want to get out of the defensive zone, and they want to get into the offensive zone, where they can make an impact in the game.”
Laviolette has cycled a few right wingers onto his top line — even doghouse candidate Kaapo Kakko got a shot in Game 4 — in effort to jolt his big guns out of their slumber.
Nothing has worked.
Of all forwards in the series, only the injured Jimmy Vesey (who has the excuse of getting sidelined early) and Barclay Goodrow (who has sniped three goals) are seeing their team get outshot worse than Zibanejad (13-45) and Kreider (10-34) when they hit the ice 5-on-5.
Sure, that’s a credit to Florida, the league’s best defensive team, led by the game’s best defensive centre since Patrice Bergeron hung ’em up.
But the adage of your best players must be your best players holds.
Fourth-liner Blake Wheeler and Laviolette shared some blame for the hooking penalty that resulted in Sam Reinhart’s Game 4 OT power-play winner, but it was Zibanejad’s careless giveaway at the offensive blue line that triggered Aleksander Barkov’s rush and put Wheeler in a tough spot.
“I try to make the play, and then they poke it and go the other way. Obviously, I should’ve probably made a different play, decision,” Zibanejad said.
“I made the decision there and then. I can’t change it now. If that goes in, it’s a great play. It didn’t this time. That’s sports. Just come back and try to make other decisions next time, and hope that it goes my way.”
The beauty of sports is that both men can flip their series narrative in Game 5.
Tales of a chucked mouthguard
The series’ best viral moment sprung from a testy post-whistle interaction between Kreider and Matthew Tkachuk.
The former snatched the latter’s trademark mouthguard and tried chucking it into Amerant Bank Arena’s lower bowl.
“I told him that was the best play he made all game,” Tkachuk quipped on Wednesday.
Tkachuk’s slobbery chew toy didn’t quite make it over the Plexiglas, so the Panthers star retrieved it, gave ‘er a wash and stuffed it back in his mouth.
“Game within the game, playoffs — gotta love it,” Tkachuk said, smiling.
Of his oral fixation, Tkachuk said he has only one mouthguard on hand per game but breaks out a new one for each round. Kreider wasn’t the first to steal his precious, though.
Tkachuk remembers one regular-season opponent (he didn’t name the player) stealing it from his face and throwing it back at him.
Technically, had Kreider managed to launch the mouthpiece out of the playing area, he would have been in violation of Rule 53.5 and at risk of a game misconduct.
“I didn’t spend nearly as much time on it as it seems other people have. I saw it live,” said Panthers coach Paul Maurice, who has seen the game shift from low-key stick taps to drive-by high-fives for the bench after every goal.
“That would’ve been showboating and horrible,” Maurice said.
“Now, what’s the first thing? Overtime winner, reach in and take your mouthguard out. I don’t get that. Three years ago, you couldn’t stand within six feet of people or you’re going down. Now, you got mouthguards flying everywhere. I don’t get it.”
Wheeler’s nightmare
Wheeler told reporters he has replayed his costly overtime hooking penalty “a million times” over in his mind, how he tried to slow Barkov from getting an unhindered breakaway at Igor Shesterkin’s net.
“I mean, I wish I wasn’t racing back down the ice, especially with the guy that I’m chasing,” Wheeler said. “I own that play. I talked to Shesty about it after and asked him if he would prefer me to just let him take that look. If there’s anyone I trust to make that save, it’s him. But if I had to do it all over again, I’d do the same thing.
“Hindsight is 20-20. You never know, right? He might make a big save or not. Let him go and he score [versus] putting them on the power play and maybe we stop them. Tough situation. But like I said, I own my actions. And I think I would have done it all over the same way.”
Tough break for a heart-on-sleeve player who did everything in his power to be available for this series and who, frankly, should not have been out on the ice in the first minute of OT anyway — considering that was his first game action after three months of rehab.
“It was amazing to get back out there and be with the guys again,” Wheeler said. “I certainly wish the outcome was different, but everything was great to be out there with the guys.”
Call it a comeback
In a battle this even, where overtime has been pushed thrice in a row, no lead is safe.
“We would love not to live on the edge. I don’t think that’s going to happen this series,” Maurice said. “Either team could’ve won the series four straight. It’s a save. That’s how tight it is.”
The find-a-way Rangers have already established an NHL record for most comeback victories in the regular season and playoffs combined when they earned their 34th of 2023-24 on Sunday.
A whopping 52 per cent of all New York’s total victories have arrived in comeback fashion (34 of 65). That’s another NHL record.
But comebacks aren’t bound by state lines.
The Oilers earned the NHL’s 38th comeback win of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs Wednesday, which ties 1999’s post-season for the most in NHL history.
One-Timers: With Filip Chytil drawing back into the lineup, Wheeler is expected to be the odd man out again. … Florida appears to be sticking with the lineup that won Game 4. … When a best-of-seven playoff series is tied 2-2, the Game 5 winner goes on to claim the series 79 per cent of the time (231-62). … No semifinal series has ever featured four consecutive overtime games. Rangers-Panthers has a chance to do that Thursday. … With his win in Game 4, Bobrovsky improved to 17-6 in his playoff overtime career, surpassing Hall of Famers Billy Smith (16-5) and Martin Brodeur (16-24) into sole possession of fourth place in NHL history. Bobrovsky holds the best career winning percentage in playoff overtime (.708) of any active netminder.
Rangers projected lineup
Chris Kreider – Mika Zibanejad – Filip Chytil
Artemi Panarin – Vincent Trocheck – Alexis Lafrenière
Jack Roslovic – Alex Wennberg – Kaapo Kakko
Will Cuylle – Barclay Goodrow – Matt Rempe
Ryan Lindgren – Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller – Braden Schneider
Erik Gustafsson – Jacob Trouba
Igor Shesterkin starts
Jonathan Quick
Panthers projected lineup
Carter Verhaeghe– Aleksander Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Matthew Tkachuk – Sam Bennett – Evan Rodrigues
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell –Vladimir Tarasenko
Steven Lorentz – Kevin Stenlund – Kyle Okposo
Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Dmitry Kulikov
Sergei Bobrovsky starts
Anthony Stolarz