SUNRISE, Fla. — Game 5 was over.
So, too, possibly were the Rangers’ Stanley Cup dreams.
Madison Square Garden was dead quiet late Thursday night as the 18,006 fans, many clad in Blueshirts sweaters, filed out of the building speechless with shoulders slumped and devoid of hope for survival in Game 6.
The reality that this might be the last time they would see the Rangers at home after such a magical season, which included winning the Presidents’ Trophy, felt heavy.
The Rangers’ spirited bid to end their 30-year drought without a Stanley Cup looked bleak following their 3-2 loss to the Panthers, dropping them into a 3-2 hole in the Eastern Conference Final entering Saturday night’s possible Panthers clincher in Game 6 at Amerant Bank Arena.
After Game 5, in the visitors’ locker room and interview room located in the bowels of the Garden, Panthers players spoke with a pointed confidence in what they’re doing.
Their coach, Paul Maurice, sounded buoyed by what he’s seen in this series, which has largely been advantage: Florida with its suffocating defense and relentless forechecking.
The Panthers spoke like a group with an unwavering belief in what it’s doing and a belief that it will continue to work.
But there were, of course, no guarantees that the Panthers would eliminate the Rangers on Saturday night in Sunrise, Fla., or even in Game 7 on Monday night back at the Garden — if the series was to get back there.
Closeout games for teams with the lead are as difficult to win as those for teams like the Rangers with their season on the brink. The pressure is as real for the front-runners as it is for the chasers.
This is not exclusive to Stanley Cup playoffs. It’s true in any sport.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Rangers in the NHL playoffs
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- Rangers eliminated by Panthers in Game 6 as long playoff run falls short of Stanley Cup
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- Rangers can’t find winning combo despite slew of lineup changes
Ask the Buffalo Bills, who led the Chiefs 36-33 with 13 seconds remaining in the 2022 AFC Championship Game and lost 42-36 to Patrick Mahomes.
Ask the 2004 Yankees, who had a 3-0 lead on the Red Sox in the ALCS and lost the next four.
Ask Greg Norman, who had a six-shot lead entering the final round of the 1996 Masters and lost to Nick Faldo, or Jean van de Velde, the flamboyant Frenchman who had a three-shot lead on the 72nd hole of the 1999 British Open and never got to lift the Claret Jug.
You get the point. Sometimes the leaders feel more pressure than the chasers.
This is where the Panthers stood at home Saturday night, on the precipice of a second consecutive trip to the Stanley Cup Final. They are a team with a score to settle, having lost to Vegas in the last Cup Final.
The Rangers, after their pre-Game 6 morning skate, expressed a fearlessness of their circumstance. Maybe it was real; maybe it was whistling past the graveyard.
When I asked Mika Zibanejad what the mood of the team was entering the game, he said, “Confident.’’
“It’s something we’ve done all year that has put us in this spot, we’ve experienced a lot and this is no different,’’ he went on. “It’s a game that we want to win.’’
Asked which team faced more pressure — the Panthers in a closeout spot or the Rangers in a survival spot — Zibanejad said, “You can look at it either way. You can always find pressure depending on where you stand.’’
Rangers center Barclay Goodrow, who had six postseason goals entering Saturday after scoring four in 82 regular-season games, echoed Zibanejad’s thoughts.
“The Cup is the hardest trophy to win because the team who’s trying to get that fourth win is under pressure and, when you’re the team that’s down, you don’t want to go home,’’ he said.
The Panthers sure did enter the game sounding sure of themselves.
“We’re a very confident group,’’ Florida defenseman Gustav Forsling said. “We believe in each other.’’
The Rangers may have believed — even after Thursday night’s back breaker. But the fact is, while the Panthers have stayed true to what they do, Rangers coach Peter Laviolette has been searching for the right combinations — both on offense and defense — all series.
He continues to try to find the right wing who fits best with Zibanejad and Chris Kreider on the top line.
Laviolette also shook up his defensive pairings Thursday night, playing Ryan Lindgren and Adam Fox together, K’Andre Miller and Braden Schneider and Erik Gustafsson alongside captain Jacob Trouba, who’s struggled in this series.
Through it all, the Panthers have continued to thrive with what they do, doing it consistently.
“We have great composure in the games,’’ Panthers center Sam Bennett said.
Maurice called it “understanding the style of hockey we like to play.’’
That style has made it very difficult on the Rangers in this series, where nothing has come easy. This is why they found themselves in survival mode Saturday night, desperately trying to earn themselves one more game in front of the home crowd in New York.
