The Florida Panthers can win the Eastern Conference Finals, and reach the Stanley Cup Final for the second year in a row — Simulating Rangers vs. Florida Game 6 in NHL 24
Will the Florida Panthers close out the Eastern Conference Final tonight against the New York Rangers? Or will we get a Game 7? Our series simulation had it going the distance. But will our Game 6 simulation in NHL 24 produce a different outcome?
NHL 24’s record for the gameday simulations of this series is 3-2. Previously, they predicted a 4-2 Game 5 victory for Florida. While the score wasn’t bang-on, the Panthers did defeat New York 3-2 in real life, and the video game correctly guessed Sam Bennett and Chris Kreider to score.
New York’s Head Coach Peter Laviolette didn’t show his hand at the morning skate on if he will make any lineup changes for tonight’s game. Jonny Brodzinski could be suiting up in his first game since Game 6 versus Carolina in the second round. But it's unclear who he would be replacing.
Therefore, we decided to roll out the same lines the Rangers used in Game 5.
New York's Projected Lines:
Kreider - Zibanejad - Chytil
Panarin - Trocheck - Lafreniere
Roslovic - Wennberg - Kakko
Cuylle - Goodrow - Rempe
Lindgren - Fox
Miller - Schneider
Gustafsson - Trouba
Shesterkin
Quick
Florida's lineup remains the same.
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
Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov started the party, scoring on a shorthanded breakaway and showcasing his All Alone x-factor ability. New York quickly answered back scoring off the ensuing faceoff by an unlikely goal scorer in Kaapo Kakko.
K’Andre Miller sent a wrister from the point onto Bobrovsky five minutes into the second, which beat him high-blocker side to put the Rangers up 2-1.
Later in the period, Vincent Trocheck, like he did in our Game 5 simulation, took a costly tripping penalty which Florida made him pay for. Sam Bennett, who always seems to score when we run simulations for Florida, tied the game up on the powerplay, but New York had another quick answer off the stick of someone who needs to have a big game tonight, Chris Kreider.
The Rangers held a 3-2 lead going into the third period. In real life, this would be disastrous and heartbreaking for New York fans if what transpired in our third period simulation was to happen.
A couple of depth players, Eetu Luostarinen and Evan Rodrigues led the comeback for Florida, each scoring in the third before Vladimir Tarasenko and Carter Verhaeghe added a couple of empty-net goals to cap off the Panthers’ four-goal third period.
Igor Shesterkin finished with an .857 save percentage allowing four goals on 28 shots, but he did make 2-3 amazing saves. And K’Andre Miller did tap-in the game-winning goal through his legs.
Although NHL 24 is predicting this series to wrap up tonight, I’m predicting a Rangers win and a lights-out game by Shesterkin in net. I also have a sneaky feeling that New York’s line of Panarin, Trocheck, and Lafreniere are going to lead the charge offensively for them.