The Rangers don’t care.
They don’t care about the Panthers’ snarl and physicality.
Don’t care about the Panthers’ habit of trying to get under their opponents’ skin and rile them up.
Don’t care about the Panthers willing to do anything to get back to the Stanley Cup Final.
For the Rangers, nothing changes.
They certainly don’t intend on letting their Eastern Conference final adversary dictate the type of game they want to play.
“We know they’re a physical team,” Rangers defenseman and captain Jacob Trouba said after practice Tuesday afternoon. “I don’t think we as a group are coming into it any differently. I think it’s part of our game, when we’re at our best we’re a physical group. I don’t think it’s anything like we’re going [to be] overly physical. We want to play our game, how we found success throughout the year. Fast and physical are two of the main keys to our game. I think any playoff game you look forward to physicality at some point. It’s gonna be a fast, physical series on both sides.”
The Panthers led the NHL in hits during the regular season.
In the playoffs they are only behind the Bruins, whom the Panthers will quickly surpass with Boston eliminated.
Along with that aggression comes an important opportunity for the Rangers, however.
The Panthers were whistled for 291 penalties in the regular season, the second-most in the NHL.
They’ve been called for 51 more in the playoffs — third-most.
And the Rangers thrive on the power play. They scored 65 power-play goals in the regular season, the fourth-most in the NHL.
Their 11 power-play goals in the playoffs are tied for second-most.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Rangers in the NHL playoffs
“They play a heavy game,” Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette said Tuesday. “They’re not the only team in the league that plays heavy. … I think one of the biggest things going into the series is we’re trying to establish our game, our plan, our identity that’s worked for us.
“I understand the way Florida plays, but we gotta work on playing our game.”
The Rangers went just 1-2-0 against the Panthers this year, though their last matchup was a 4-3 shootout win for the Rangers on March 23.
The Panthers out-hit the Rangers 34-24 in the first clash, but the Rangers out-hit the Panthers 30-22 and 28-24 in the other two matchups, respectively.
So no, the Rangers don’t feel a need to play any more physically than they already have.
“I think our guys have been up to the challenge,” Laviolette said. “We’ve been able to play our game but also play any game that’s come our way. I go back to the times we played Florida this year, I didn’t think it was a big deal. I know there were questions in the beginning of the year how we would handle certain teams and their physicality. I think our guys have done a really good job.”
