You can't win if your best players aren't your best players. Igor Shesterkin is owed every steak, lobster, stone crab, and gold toilet in South Florida right now.
Igor didn't steal that game. Attempted shots are a dumb stat and...you know...not actually saves. He had about an .810 save percentage in that game. He definitely played well and did his part...but he didn't steal the game.
The Rangers played well in the first period. Being tied after one was pretty good considering the refs were only allowed to call penalties on the Rangers for that 20 minutes and Miller forgot how to do icing.
The Rangers were the clear better team in the second period and had a two goal lead that the absolutely deserved. After two periods the Rangers were the better team and we were all happy fans.
In the third, the Rangers sat on the lead and got caved. They shouldn't do that again. The Panthers were rewarded with the about two goals they should have gotten to tie the game. But the Rangers didn't fold like Carolina did when they gave up the lead in the clincher. They killed off a late penalty on a shit call after a shit luck stick break by Trouba. They took the right timeout, and made it to overtime. Then they regrouped and did their Rangers OT thing and won.
Mcdonnough and Suban closed the broadcast felating Igor not because they like Igor, but because it's their backhanded way of saying the Rangers aren't that good and didn't deserve the win. It's even getting to Valliquette who was saying some nonsense about 5 v 5 in the postgame, even though Florida was the power play "merchants" through the first two thirds of that game, and the Rangers don't have a PP goal in the series.
Don't let it seep into this board. The Rangers won the president's cup because they were the best team in the regular season. They are winning the ECF because they've been the best team in this series. Everything else is just jealous narrative. We deserve good things.