This wasn’t your normal middle-of-the-period playoff interview for Rangers coach Peter Laviolette on Saturday night with the Rangers’ season on the line.
While ESPN’s on-ice reporter Emily Kaplan was asking Laviolette how the Rangers were playing late in the first period of their Game 6 Eastern Conference Final showdown with the Panthers, a young shirtless Florida fan was flexing and smiling in the background.
“How about his guys behind us,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said with a chuckle. “He likes the interview more than you do,” Kaplan answered.
A young Florida Panthers fan flexes shirtless during Peter Laviolette’s on-ice interview with ESPN
during the first period of Game 6. @CamandStrick / xA good-natured Laviolette went on to finish the short interview and then ended it by giving a playful tap on the glass with a smile to the youngster.
“Peter Laviolette having to deal with the Florida Panthers muscle on the ice and it was the muscle behind him in the stands,” ESPN play-by-play broadcaster Sean McDonough said to end the segment.
Laviolette may not have been in as good of a mood if the interview came a couple of minutes later.
That’s because Sam Bennett’s goal in the final minute of the period that gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead, and Florida eventually defeated the Rangers, 2-1, in Game 6 to eliminate the Blueshirts.
