"Strip Trouba of his captaincy" "Get rid of Trouba NOW": Blueshirts fans irate with Jacob Trouba after Rangers' playoff elimination

The New York Rangers' season came to a disappointing end on Saturday night as they were eliminated by the Florida Panthers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Rangers fans were completely frustrated with their dismal display and called out captain Jacob Trouba for the team’s loss.

Fans blamed Trouba for the Panthers’ first period goal as his turnover to Evan Rodrigues in the last minute of the period allowed Sam Bennett to breeze past him. Bennett then passed to Rodrigues, received the puck back, and fired a shot over Shesterkin's glove into the top corner of the net.

The Game 6 elimination did not sit well with the Blueshirts fanbase. Following are some of the fan reactions from X/Twitter:

“This team will never win a Cup. Igor Shesterkin is Henrik Lundqvist 2.0. Strip Trouba of his captaincy.”

“Looking forward to a new captain next year,” commented one fan.

“Excited to welcome the new captain next year. Good season, bad series. Happens,” wrote one user.

Most fans demanded that Trouba be stripped of captaincy. They felt that the team needed someone more capable to be leading the team.

“GET RID OF TROUBA. NOW”

“‘Playoff Trouba’ did what he does. Veteran Captain in the box, and being undisciplined as ever all playoffs. Young guys regressing when the lights get bright. (24, 76),” commented one fan.

“You guys suck. HEARTLESS!!. Panarin, Zibanejad, Trouba should all be gone. Get some players who can play when the going gets tough. Who cares if they have great regular seasons when they disappear in the heat of the playoffs,” wrote another fan.

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Paul Maurice heaps praise on Rangers’ goalie Igor Shesterkin

In the post-game interview, Panthers head coach Paul Maurice praised Igor Shesterkin by comparing his performance to that of Jose Theodore's in 2002. He mentioned how Shesterkin's goaltending was exceptional, noting that his team had multiple breakaway opportunities in several games but couldn't score because Shesterkin was so effective.

“I haven't seen a series by a goaltender like that since Jose Theodore in 2002,” Maurice said (starting 1:07 in the video). “He won the Hart Trophy that year and we had a very similar experience until kind of the last game where he was just lights out.”

“We got in alone at least four times in games one through five and six times in one game and got nothing. Got nothing. Like that, he was brilliant in this series. I just didn't think I needed to help—you guys needed any help saying that. So I just tried to, yeah, he's pretty good."

The Panthers will now await their opponent from the Western Conference finals with a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup for the third time in franchise history.