The New York Rangers displayed a mostly lifeless offense Wednesday en route to a 3-0 home loss to the Florida Panthers to begin the Eastern Conference Final.

The Blueshirts were shut out just once in 92 games (regular season plus playoffs) entering the Panthers series. That was way back on Dec. 9, when New York fell 4-0 to the Washington Capitals.

But New York had a brutal showing Wednesday, notably managing just 12 shots on goal through two periods. That included a stretch of one shot on goal over a 16-minute stretch.

B/R Open Ice @BR_OpenIce

The Rangers have just 10 shots through almost two full periods 😳<br><br>They have ONE shot on goal in the last 16 minutes <a href="">

The Rangers did have their chances, including breakaways from Braden Schneider and Will Cuylle, a Mika Zibanejad one-timer that went wide, a four-shot flurry in 12 seconds during the third period and a late power play right after that.

However, the Rangers' goose egg never changed shape over 60 minutes. Well-deserved credit goes to Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who finished with a 23-save shutout and made clutch stops along the way.

Florida Panthers @FlaPanthers

Sergei *and we cannot stress this enough* Bobrovsky <a href="">

Meanwhile, the Panthers got on the board late in the first period off a Matthew Tkachuk goal.

Florida Panthers @FlaPanthers

Quick transition to get the lead! <a href="">

The score remained 1-0 until the Rangers scored an unofficial own goal after Alexis Lafrenière deflected one in with 3:48 remaining. Carter Verhaeghe got the credit.

Florida Panthers @FlaPanthers

It counts for Carter! <a href="">

Sean Bennett scored an empty-netter to seal the scoring.

Florida Panthers @FlaPanthers

Benny makes it 3-0! <a href="">

Of course, this is only one game in a best-of-seven series, but the Rangers came out flat. There's plenty of time for New York to turn this around, but in the meantime, fans questioned the tough performance.

Sonni @lefttoremind

Not only did the Rangers make me pay [redacted] American dollars to watch THAT, now I have to wait 25 minutes for the subway home, too??? Cursed vibes.

APOLLO @CosmicPegasusDH

Rangers look suffocated against this panthers team whos forwards are stronger<br>Thing is florida doesnt have to do anything fancy, just toss the puck into the corners, gonna outwork along the boards, wear the rangers down low<br>Way their goalie is playing this looks like a quick one

M E Z @kingmezini

idgaf that the rangers lost game 1 in the ECF during their 1994 run.. such a lame low iq response. I want them to show no mercy every game man. horrible performance ... i want laviii to smack them in the locker room.<a href="">#NYR</a>

Peter Fegan @PeterFegan8

Rangers shouldn't lull themselves into thinking that this game was there for the taking in the 3rd. Florida won almost every battle tonight. It was only 1-0 because Igor made some tough saves and the Panthers misfired on some chances. Gotta do better Friday night.

brock lés nerd @Wrestleworld5

Lol rangers

Jason Ohlstein @jason051198

Will have a full breakdown in a bit, but the Rangers need to get back to the drawing board. We were pretty exposed in all aspects of the game tonight.

Mike L @MDL1981

Rangers need to figure out a way to generate more offensive chances. They wont win games when they have 15 shots goal 50-55 minutes into the game. Yes they hit a few posts but really besides the two PP's and the one 5v5 flurry where Wennberg somehow didnt score they did nothing

Buk Marley @BukMarleyNY

All 18,000 people at MSG should report fraud to their bank because obviously the rangers didn't have a game tonight <a href="">#NYR</a>

Austin Espie @austinm655

Rangers offensive is terrible tonight. Eastern conference final and they're playing like it's preseason. Need to figure it out for game 2.

NY Sports Guy @_NYSportsGuy

Rangers game 1 grades:<br><br>Kreider: F<br>Mika: F<br>Roslovic: did he play?<br>Panarin: F<br>Laf: F<br>Tro: F<br>Chytil: F<br>Wennberg: F<br>Kakko: did he play?<br>Cuylle: F<br>Goodrow: F<br>Vesey: did he play?<br>Fox: F<br>Lindgren: F<br>Trouba: F<br>Miller: F<br>Schneider: F<br>Gus: F<br>Igor: C

Delo (Take The Points) @delo417

The Rangers missed TWO breakaway goals and had 10 shots thru 2 periods. Stop sugarcoating it. This was a TERRIBLE loss. Terrible.

Game 2 will take place in New York on Friday at 8 p.m. ET.