New York Rangers ended the National season early hockey league (NHL). The star and one of the most expensive teams in the world, for which Igor Shesterkin and Artemiy Panarin play, again took a sharp step from admiration to disappointment. The Bluebirds had a great regular season, were very good in the first two stages of the playoffs, but in the conference finals they instantly lost everything they had accumulated all this time. The Florida Panthers not only crushed the New Yorkers with their power and aggression, but also neutralized their main stars:
- Mika Zibanejad — 0 goals and 2 assists in 6 games
- Chris Kreider — 1 goal and 1 assist in 6 games
- Artemiy Panarin — 1 goal and 3 assists in 6 matches
The main complaints from fans and local media are addressed to this trio. To Panarin — almost to a greater extent. This largely depends on the financial issue, because Artemy is the highest paid player in the club. Hence the great demand. Moreover, the Khlebushka troika remained the only one that Peter Laviolette did not touch. Here's what American journalists write about the Russian superstar:
«If two veteran players like Zibanejad and Kreider can't make it, the Rangers won't move. The same is true for Artemi Panarin. When the Rangers' top stars go quiet, so do the Rangers' top stars. moments of the whole team’s game,” said Molly Walker of the New York Post.
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"Panarin is bread and butter in the regular season. Panarin is a piece of cake in the playoffs", noted Vinnie Parise from USA Today with a meme.
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"Five years ago "Rangers" signed Panarin for $81.5 million. During this time, he played 46 matches in the playoffs and scored only 12 goals. 1 goal in the series with the Panthers, 0 goals last season, only 2 goals in the East finals in 2022. When can we start saying thatPanarin doesn't succeed when it matters most? In the series with the Panthers he only has one goal. One! This is unacceptable. He can score at least 200 points in the regular season, but in the playoffs he collapses. “This is no longer in doubt,” Rob Taub was angry.
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"It’s no secret that Panarin is in the regular season. — Rangers' best player. His disappearance in the East finals is the most worrisome. Defense of Florida turned out to be so suffocating that Panarin is unable to maneuver as he is accustomed to do. Weak game «Rangers» in the attack is directly related to Artemy’s actions. “And it’s not just about the goals,” noted Remy Mastey from The Hockey News.
Arthur Staple also wrote about the same thing in his column on The Athletic. Back in August 2023, before the start of the season, he spoke about Panarin as follows: “I stand by what I have said many times — without Panarin, the Rangers will not get the result they need in the championship. But for success in the playoffs, he must change his thinking «.
And Artemy changed him. This was noted by everyone throughout the season. But at one point everything turned around.
“»Panarin said after the series with the Panthers: “Everyone expected us to go further. I don’t think we were embarrassed that we lost without a chance. One goal could have changed everything.» But Rangers didn't score that goal. They didn't get that win. They're not going to the final they thought they deserved. Rangers were good. Sometimes very good. But that's still it. not enough,” Staple said.
Objectively speaking, it would be wrong to call Panarin’s season a failure. It is possible to evaluate this particular series with the Panthers separately from everything else. But only the latter is remembered, and therefore Artemy will go on vacation again, with a wave of criticism behind him. Khlebushek set a lot of different records during the regular season and was highly effective in the first two rounds of the playoffs. However, at the moment when new achievements were expected of him, the Russian scorer went into the shadows. He came out of it too late.
Everyone remembers perfectly well how Panarin was worried about this a year ago, when he and his Rangers frankly failed the series against the New Jersey Devils. It’s not hard to imagine what feelings Artemy is experiencing now. He had perhaps the best season of his entire career. And still he was left without the coveted Stanley Cup, which he sought to win this summer. Disappointment.
The only consolation for Khlebushka may be the success of his close friends — Sergei Bobrovsky and Vladimir Tarasenko.