Two years ago, the Florida Panthers beat the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference final en route to the franchise’s first of two straight Stanley Cup championships.
Fast forward to today, and both teams are going through seasons they would prefer to forget.
The Rangers were the NHL Presidents’ Trophy winners two years ago, although their 115 points did not get them past the Panthers.
Last year, they failed to qualify for the playoffs; the Rangers have the distinction of being the second team mathematically eliminated from the playoffs in the this one.
Vancouver is the only team with fewer points.
The Panthers are, technically, still the two-time defending Stanley Cup champs but there will be no third defense of the title.
Like the Rangers, the Panthers will not make the playoffs.
The reasons are much different.
Devastating injuries to key players from Day 1 signaled this could be a long and frustrating season.
Sam Bennett missed Saturday’s 5-2 loss to the Islanders becoming the 13th player from Game 6 of last summer’s Stanley Cup Final win who is either currently out or missed significant time this season.
The Panthers have lost 433 man-games to injury this season to date.
Last year’s total: 133.
The Rangers’ downfall over the past year was for a multitude of other reasons.
Last season, some of the veterans did not perform as expected and were traded. Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba are on top of the list but there were others.
Although Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad produced good numbers last season, they were well below the season before.
Zibanejad is enjoying a comeback year and Panarin has since been traded to Los Angeles.
If there is anything that either of these two teams excelled in this year it is the number of rookie laps taken.
The Panthers used 35 players this year; the Rangers 38.
Prior to Friday’s 6-1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks, the Rangers had lost six straight.
In the Chicago game the rookies put on a showcase, giving the team at least momentary hope for the future.
Goalie Dylan Garand earned his first NHL victory. The sample size is small, but he is now 1-0-1 with a 1.44/.954. He is making his case to be Igor Shesterkin’s backup next season in the likely event that Jonathan Quick retires.
After almost three full seasons in the AHL, Adam Sykora finally got his shot with the Rangers. He scored his first NHL goal against Chicago, in his second game.
Friday was a feel-good day all around for the Rangers.
Defenseman Drew Fortescue made his NHL debut after three seasons at Boston College. He is from the New York area and had upwards of 200 friends and family at Madison Square Garden for the occasion.
He didn’t disappoint. He logged 17:23 of ice time and assisted on a Jonny Brodzinski goal for his first NHL point in his first game.
Gabe Perreault and Brendan Othman took their rookie laps last season with brief appearances, but both scored their first goal this season. Othman has since been traded to Calgary.
In a statistical oddity, Ranger forward Will Cuylie assisted on the first NHL goals this season of Sykora, Perreault, Othman and Noah Laba. Laba is currently out with an injury.
One other forward in today’s Rangers’ lineup, Jaroslav Chmelar, had his rookie lap and first goal earlier this season.
Defenseman Matthew Robertson played two games last season but stuck with the team this year. He scored his first NHL goal in Montreal on Oct. 18 on a slapper past Sam Montembeault.
In all, five Rangers scored their first goal this season.
The Panthers also have some youngsters who enjoyed their ascent to the NHL.
Sandis Vilmanis is back in Charlotte but looked good in his 19 games with the Panthers. He took his rookie lap Jan. 10 at Ottawa and scored his first goal 17 days later against Utah, unassisted after intercepting an Ian Cole pass.
Jack Devine and Mikulas Havorka took their rookie laps earlier this season during brief callups. They have yet to score their first goal.
Defenseman Mike Benning was called up when Uvis Balinskis was injured.
He had his rookie lap March 12 against Columbus. He hasn’t scored a goal yet but in his first game coach Paul Maurice had so much confidence in him that he had him on the ice during the overtime.
He assisted on Sam Reinhart’s overtime winner.
This has been a rough season for both the Rangers and the Panthers. The two come into today’s game the lowest ranked teams in the Eastern Conference.
But, at least there is hope for the future.
ON DECK: GAME No. 72
FLORIDA PANTHERS at NEW YORK RANGERS
