Rangers visit Panthers after making wrong type of NHL history

It’s finally over for the New York Rangers.
The Rangers visit the Florida Panthers on Monday night in Sunrise, Fla., with nothing to play for — at least in the 2024-25 season. While the Panthers (47-29-4, 98 points) already have clinched a playoff berth, the Rangers (37-36-7, 81 points) were eliminated from playoff contention with Saturday’s 7-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.
It’s a dramatically different April for New York.
Just one year ago, the Rangers won the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL team with the best regular-season record. The Rangers then made it to the Eastern Conference Finals before losing to eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida.
All of that made this season a bit of a shocker.
“It’s disappointing for everybody,” said Rangers coach Peter Laviolette. “This certainly wasn’t anybody’s plan, especially coming off of last year. And yet, here we are.”
Indeed, they are here after going 4-8-1 over their past 13 games. The Rangers are just the fourth team in NHL history to have gone from the Presidents’ Trophy to failing to make the playoffs the next season.
The Panthers, meanwhile, have won three straight games. That includes a 3-2 shootout victory Saturday night over the visiting Buffalo Sabres.
Against Buffalo, Florida rested centers Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart. In addition, forwards Matthew Tkachuk (groin injury) and Sam Bennett (upper body) continued to sit out.
Those are Florida’s top four goal-scorers, accounting for 104 tallies so far this season.
The Panthers would love to get Tkachuk and Bennett back for the playoffs but, in the meantime, they are still a formidable team.
“We’re just grinding and trying to build for the playoffs,” Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe said after beating Buffalo. “We’re all in that mindset now. We’re trying to build for what’s to come.”
Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who was rested on Saturday, likely will get the start on Monday. He has won two straight games, allowing just one goal in each outing.
For the season, the 36-year-old Bobrovsky is 33-18-2 with a .907 save percentage and a 2.39 goals-against average.
His Russian counterpart with the Rangers, 29-year-old Igor Shesterkin, will finish this season with a losing record for the first time. The 2021-22 Vezina Trophy winner is 26-29-5 with a .903 save percentage and a 2.91 GAA that is well above his 2.53 career mark.
He leads the NHL in total saves this season (1,557), but his save percentage and GAA are way down from his glorious 2021-22 campaign when he delivered a .935 save percentage and 2.07 GAA.
The numbers point to the defense not being stout in front of Shesterkin. And, in general, the Rangers, while healthy for most of the year, have played uninspired hockey.
Father Time seems to have caught up with players such as Chris Kreider, 33, and Mika Zibanejad, 31. Kreider has 21 goals this season — 18 fewer than last year and 31 shy of his 2021-22 total.
Zibanejad has 18 goals in 80 games this season. That’s eight fewer than last season and 21 below his 2022-23 output. His points have also declined from 91 to 72 to 58 over the past three seasons.
Then there’s Artemi Panarin, 33. He leads the Rangers in goals (37) and points (89) — but last season he had 49 goals and 120 points.