The Florida Panthers and the New York Rangers meet Friday in Game 2 Eastern Conference NHL Playoffs Conference Finals action at Madison Square Garden. Here’s a Panthers vs. Rangers prediction.

Game One Recap: Panthers Strike First

The Florida Panthers come into this one with a 1-0 series lead, stealing home ice after posting a 3-0 win over the Rangers in game one of the series last time out. Matthew Tkachuk opened the scoring for the Panthers with the lone goal of the opening period, and that goal would be the only marker for the rest of the 1^st, all of the 2^nd and most of the 3^rd before Florida doubled their lead with an unfortunate own goal from the Rangers. Sam Bennett potted an empty-netter just 2:29 later to push the lead to 3-0 and seal the Rangers’ fate in the opener. Sergei Bobrovsky got the win for the Panthers after stopping all 24 shots faced in the win with a shutout, while Igor Shesterkin took the loss for the Rangers after allowing 2 goals on 26 shots faced in the defeat.

Florida Panthers Player Stats

Sam Reinhart leads the Panthers in scoring with 94 points including a team-high 57 goals and 37 assists while Aleksander Barkov has 80 points with 23 goals and 57 assists. Carter Verhaeghe has 72 points with 34 goals and 38 assists while Matthew Tkachuk has 88 points with 62 assists of his own this season. Sergei Bobrovsky has posted a 36-17-4 mark with a 2.37 GAA and .915 save percentage in goal for Florida this season while Anthony Stolarz is 16-7-2 with a 2.03 GAA and a .925 save percentage this season.

Why the Florida Panthers will win

• The Panthers have won each of their last 11 games as road favorites against Metropolitan Division opponents.
• The Rangers have lost three of their last four games.
• The Panthers have covered the puck line in seven of their last eight road games against Metropolitan Division opponents.
• The Rangers have failed to cover the puck line in each of their last four games at Madison Square Garden following a loss.
• The Panthers have won the third period in seven of their last eight road games.

New York Rangers Team Preview

Artemi Panarin leads the Rangers in scoring with 120 points including team-highs of 49 goals and 71 assists while Chris Kreider has 75 points with 39 goals of his own. Vincent Trocheck has 77 points as well with 52 assists while Mika Zibanejad has 72 points with 46 assists this season. Igor Shesterkin has gone 36-17-2 with a 2.58 GAA and a .913 save percentage while Jonathan Quick is 18-6-2 with a 2.62 GAA and a .911 save percentage between the pipes for the Rangers this season.

Why the New York Rangers will win

• The Rangers have won each of their last seven games at Madison Square Garden following a home loss.
• The Panthers have lost four of their last six games as favorites following a road win.
• The Rangers have covered the puck line in nine of their last 10 games against the Panthers following a loss.
• The Panthers have failed to cover the puck line in six of their last seven night games following a road win.
• The Rangers have won the third period in each of their last six games following a home loss.

Panthers vs. Rangers Prediction

I’m on the Rangers here. I just feel like this is must-win territory for the Rangers here as home ice has been one of New York’s strengths all year long as they were one of the NHL’s best on home ice this season and you also don’t want to go to Florida down 0-2 in this series with the experience that the Panthers have in this stage as recently as last season. This is going to be a heavyweight fight of a series and it feels like one that will be a best-of-3 once we’ve played four games. All in all, I think the Rangers return fire here and get a win to even the series at one. Give me New York.