Florida started out a man down for the first 1:46 of the period, but successfully killed off the penalty.
The teams traded chances for the first five minutes of the period, getting two shots apiece on goal. Shawn Matthias had a chance on a short breakaway but put it right in Biron’s chest pad for an easy save.
At the ten minute mark, Dmitry Kulikov took exception when Rangers captain Ryan Callahan got a little too close to goalie Scott Clemmensen, but the scrum never escalated, as all five Panthers came to Kulikov’s defense, ready to dance.
At the 11-minute mark, Kris Versteeg skated through several Rangers deep in the Rangers zone, finding Tomas Fleischmann for what could have been an easy goal, but Fleischmann was not quite ready for the pass.
Florida went on their first power play of the night with seven minutes left in the second period when Ruslan Fedotenko boarded Mike Santorelli. Four clears, an offsides call and two missed shots later, the Rangers went back to even strength.
Hits: Rangers, 36-18
Blocked Shots: Rangers, 12-9
Faceoffs: Rangers, 21-20
Shots on Goal: Rangers, 24-13
Score: Rangers 1, Panthers 1