Will we get a third straight overtime game? Simulating New York vs. Florida Game 4 in NHL 24
NHL 24 didn't just correctly predict a Rangers win for Game 3, they accurately predicted a 5-4 overtime win. And some people think simulations are silly.
Our series simulation had the Rangers winning the Eastern Conference Finals in Game 7 and so far this series is showing the makings of going all the way to that intensifying sudden-death match.
During Game 3, Paul Maurice started to tweak his top three forward lines, and based on the forward lines at the morning skate, the changes he made appear to be sticking.
Also, Steven Lorentz and Kyle Okposo appear to be coming in on Florida's fourth line replacing Ryan Lomberg and Nick Cousins.
Florida's Projected Lines:
Verhaeghe - Barkov - Reinhart
Rodrigues - Bennett - Tkachuk
Luostarinen - Lundell - Tarasenko
Lorentz - Stenlund - Okposo
Forsling - Ekblad
Mikkola - Montour
Ekman-Larsson - Kulikov
Bobrovsky
Stolarz
We expect New York to roll out the same lines that were used in Game 3, even though they were dominated by Florida last game. Shot attempts were 108-43 and in the third period alone they were 41-11 for the Panthers.
New York's Projected Lines:
Kreider - Zibanejad - Chytil
Panarin - Trocheck - Lafreniere
Roslovic - Wennberg - Kakko
Cuylle - Goodrow - Rempe
Lindgren - Fox
Miller - Trouba
Gustafsson - Schneider
Shesterkin
Quick
In the simulation, the first period was an absolute snooze fest. Things got going in the second period when Evan Rodrigues scored the game's opening tally before the Rangers responded with two of their own by Alexis Lafreniere and Filip Chytil.
Then, in the third period, EA must've flipped a switch or something on the AI because the two teams combined for eight goals.
Chytil completed the hat trick with Mika Zibanejad assisting on all three of his goals. Chytil's third goal of the game put New York up 6-2 and it was over. Or so we thought.
EA SPORTS adjusted the final 60 seconds of the third period to tick down in 60 real-life seconds. This benefited the Panthers massively as they scored three goals in the dying minute, two in the last 20 seconds that came just eight seconds apart.
All of a sudden it was now a 6-5 game for the Rangers with 12 seconds left. Don't worry New York fans, your team hung on to win, but I can't imagine the stress this would bring if this were to happen tonight in real life.
Igor Shesterkin got bailed out by his team as he allowed five goals on only 20 shots for an ugly .750 save percentage.
Florida's Carter Verhaeghe had three assists, all coming in the third period, finishing as his team's top point producer. And for the second simulation in a row, the top pairing of Gustav Forsling and Aaron Ekblad struggled mightily, each finishing as a minus-4.
Sergei Bobrovsky will have to make sure he doesn't allow six goals on 32 shots in real life tonight if the Panthers want to even up the series against the Blueshirts.
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