SUNRISE, Fla. — It has become an annual rite of passage, sort of like Daylight Savings Time. But instead of moving the clock ahead by an hour every spring, the Rangers add another year to their Stanley Cup drought.

It will be 31 years since the last ride up the Canyon of Heroes for the Rangers, who were a very good team this year and a very good team through the first two rounds of the playoffs but could not quite sustain it against a bigger, stronger, more physical team in the conference final.

There’s no shame to it. This wasn’t last year’s no-show defeat to the Devils. The Rangers left everything they had on the ice in this six-game series in which they were brutalized, pounded and softened up through the opening three contests by a Panthers team that fattened up by winning the final three games of this conference final.

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SUNRISE, Fla. — A Rangers season that was so special was reduced to just another commonality.

For all the firsts, all the records and all the commotion their 2023-24 campaign caused, the Blueshirts were ultimately just another NHL team who couldn’t make it over the hump after their 2-1 loss in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Panthers on Saturday night brought their season to a not-so-special end.

That third win has evaded the Rangers for their last two conference final appearances, and the Stanley Cup drought will continue to 31 years.

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Artemi Panarin halted his eight-game goal drought with 1:39 to go, but the Rangers fell short of their quest to reach the Stanley Cup Final with a 2-1 loss in Game 6.

Mika Zibnejad finished with no goals in his last 11 postseason game since Game 2 against the Hurricanes, the longest playof drought of drought of his career. Adam Fox had no goals and seven assists in 16 games. The Rangers finished 1-for-15 in the series on the power play.

With the Rangers' eliminated, the 2012-13 Blackhawks remain the last Presidents' Trophy winners to also hoist the Cup in the same year.
The Panthers became the first NHL team to return to the Stanley Cup Final after losing the previous year in the championship round since the Penguins in 2009.

Vladimir Tarasenko made his first point of the series a massive one, converting a feed from Anton Lundell at the right post for a 2-0 Panthers lead at 9:08 of the third. The Rangers are being outshot 6-2 in the period with under nine minutes remaining. They are in deep trouble.

Artemi Panarin, looking for his first goal in nine games, with a couple of shots early in the third, but Sergei Bobrovsky has been technically sound on everything once again.

The Rangers played a decent second period, but they still trail 1-0 with 20 minutes remaining.

Mika Zibanejad hasn't scored in 10 games plus two periods, and the first-line center had the puck bounce over his stick in front of an empty cage with barely one minute remaining in the period. Shots are 24-18 Florida througb two.

Sam Bennett beat Shesterkin's glove with a rocket from the left circle with 50 seconds left in the first period for a 1-0 Rangers deficit through one. It was his fourth of the series, and marks his third straight game with a goal.

Peter Laviolette looked at the play for a potential offsides call, but he did not challenge,

The Rangers managed four of the first five shots before Vincent Trocheck was sent off for hooking for the game's first power play. The Panthers had three solid scoring chances on six shot attempts, but Igor Shesterkin maintained the scoreless knot.