There won’t be a championship to celebrate this summer. The Rangers had their special season end last night by the Panthers in Sunrise.

The Panthers took Game 6 by a score of 2-1 to eliminate the Rangers from the playoffs. For the second straight year, they defeated the Presidents’ Trophy winner. This time, it came in the Eastern Conference Final to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals. They’ll return there and try to finish the job.

Ultimately, the Rangers ran into a better team. There’s no shame in losing to the battle tested Panthers, who proved to be tougher in a closely fought six-game series.  All but one game was decided by a goal. Even Game 1 was 1-0 before the Panthers put it away.

Despite getting outplayed for long stretches, the Rangers had plenty of chances to come out on top. In the end, they’ll look back at the third period of Game 5. Anton Lundell’s go-ahead tally helped the Panthers take a 3-2 series lead. Sam Bennett’s empty netter stood as the winner due to Alexis Lafreniere scoring his fourth goal with 49 seconds left. From there, the Panthers locked it down.

On Saturday night, it was a similar end result. Even though they outplayed the Panthers for most of the first period, the Rangers fell behind in the last minute. An Erik Gustafsson turnover in the neutral zone led to Bennett taking a return feed from Evan Rodrigues to put the Panthers ahead.

Following Gustafsson’s giveaway, Jacob Trouba went for a hit on Bennett. He slipped the puck to Rodrigues and got open in the slot for his fourth goal of the series. The Rangers still had players back in the area. But Barclay Goodrow was unable to pick up Bennett, who proved to be the Panthers’ best forward in the series. His rugged play combined with scoring and setting up key goals hurt the Rangers.

Peter Laviolette’s lineup adjustments didn’t work. He moved Goodrow onto the third line with Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko. Aside from a couple of effective shifts spent in the offensive zone during the first period, that line was on for both Panthers’ goals.

Alex Wennberg moved up to play with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Although they looked good early on, nothing materialized. It was a frustrating series for Zibanejad, who didn’t score a goal. He was shut down by the stingy Panthers’ defense, which also clawed Artemi Panarin. Aside from a shorthanded goal, Kreider wasn’t a factor either.

Igor Shesterkin again was heroic in defeat. As the game went on, he made some terrific saves to give his team a chance. After stopping 34 shots in Game 5, he made 32 saves in Game 6. He was the best player in the series. Winning coach Paul Maurice had high praise for Shesterkin’s performance in the postgame.

He posted a 2.25 goals-against-average (GAA) with a .930 save percentage in the series. The amount of high danger chances he faced was absurd. Shesterkin stopped almost everything. It took a couple of fluke goals for the Panthers to beat him in Game 5.

Eventually, the Panthers kept plugging away to finally get to Shesterkin. He had no chance on either the Bennett goal (one-timer) or Vladimir Tarasenko’s series clincher (put away). They’ll still be talking about Shesterkin’s performance this postseason. He was remarkable.

If anything can be learned, it’s that the Rangers weren’t strong enough to win the Stanley Cup. They lost too many physical battles against the bigger Panthers, whose tenacious style wore them down.

Florida’s diligent checking and superb penalty killing took away the Rangers’ biggest weapons. They found little open space to make plays. The power play suffered. It was the Panthers who held the edge in special teams. They also were the better team at 5-on-5.

Even though they spent less time defending on Saturday night, the Rangers were unable to get inside on the Panthers. It was mostly one and done. No forward had more than one shot on goal through two periods. The Panthers left the points open for defensemen to shoot the puck on Sergei Bobrovsky. He handled it with ease.

The best opportunities to score came from Jack Roslovic and Zibanejad. On a delayed call, Roslovic missed the net on a wide open rebound. Later in the game, a bouncing puck took a carom in front for Zibanejad. But it bounced up, forcing Zibanejad to miss completely. That summed up his series.

You never got the impression they would score. That’s how well the Panthers defended. Bobrovsky saw everything. He finished with 23 saves.

The Rangers could only muster six shots in the third period. They struggled offensively. Even with Adam Fox playing his best game, it was hard to get shots through. The Panthers blocked 23 shots. Aaron Ekblad led them with six. He had a very good defensive series. Partner Gustav Forsling made several key defensive plays to break up chances. He was the best defenseman in the series.

Shesterkin robbed Tarasenko on a dangerous rebound with a pad save in which he stretched out. He did everything possible to keep the Rangers in it.

On a play where K’Andre Miller got caught out of position, Lundell skated in and passed across for a Tarasenko finish on the doorstep to make it 2-0 with less than 11 minutes remaining. Neither Braden Schneider nor Chytil picked up Tarasenko. It was another case where they had players back but failed in coverage.

The small details add up in a long series. The Panthers were way better at that. They’re a well coached team by Maurice. Ever since he took over, they’ve become a much different team. Adding Matthew Tkachuk changed their identity. They’re no longer soft. They all play the same hard-nosed style. The Rangers were unable to match it.

As time wound down, it looked like Bobrovsky would have the easiest shutout. But with Shesterkin on the bench, Vincent Trocheck got the puck over for an open Panarin, who finally scored his first goal of the series with 1:40 left in regulation.

It was one of the rare instances when Panarin had enough room to fire a laser by close friend Bobrovsky. There was enough time for the Rangers to force overtime.

However, the Panthers played splendid team defense. Bobrovsky only had to make one stop on Zibanejad from long range. The rest was superb checking.

On another dump in, Niko Mikkola killed off the remainder of the game. It was a cruel ending.

Ultimately, the Rangers were beat by a better team. One intent on winning the Cup. The way the Panthers play, it’s going to be tough for either Edmonton or Dallas to beat them. Florida now gets a week off.

As for the Rangers, a lot has been said by many observers. It’s too much. There are too many fickle fans who love to play the blame game. Trouba is the new target. It reminds me of all the ridiculous Dan Girardi chatter after they lost to the Kings for the Cup. Everyone’s an expert.

How about taking a step back to enjoy what made this season so special. The Rangers weren’t expected to finish with the league’s best record. They weren’t even supposed to win the division. There was cautious optimism going in.

Nobody knew they’d break the franchise record for most wins and points in a single season. Who had Panarin scoring 49 goals and 120 points? Trocheck was the best center they had. He did everything well. Lafreniere followed up his breakout season by scoring eight goals in the playoffs. He was by far their best forward against the Panthers. Goodrow again silenced the critics by scoring in the clutch.

Of all the Rangers teams, this was my favorite. They were fun to watch and exciting. Their never say die attitude was what made them so easy to root for. They were never out of games. Nobody thought they’d make it here. The season was a success.

Was it perfect? Of course not. Anytime you fall short of your ultimate goal, it’s disappointing. In the end, they got worn down by a better opponent. They kept battling until the final buzzer.

I don’t know what the off-season will bring. But I’ll always have another forever memory with Dad seeing them win a great Game 2 in the Conference Finals on a perfect Goodrow shot in overtime. Instead of worrying about what comes next, enjoy the hot weather. Take a break.

The Rangers gave us a lot to be proud of. They deserve to be appreciated for the season they had. Whatever they decide won’t be for a while. It was a fun ride.