It certainly seems as if the Rangers lost a lot more on Saturday night at the Garden than just a game to the Devils.
The overtime result came back 4-3 in favor of New Jersey, but with 13:19 remaining in the third period, the Rangers watched as alternate captain and stalwart defenseman Marc Staal went to the ice in the heap after taking a shoulder to the chin from Devils rookie forward Reid Boucher. With Staal’s concussion history, there was nothing but concern as he finally raised himself and skated directly to the dressing room, smashing his helmet in the hallway on the way and not returning.
“He took a shoulder to the chin and didn’t feel quite right,” coach Alain Vigneault said after rookie defenseman Eric Gelinas beat his team on a 4-on-3 power play goal with 1:15 gone by in the extra period, the Rangers’ second-period 2-0 lead a long-forgotten memory. “They’re evaluating him right now and we’ll have an update [Sunday].”
It would be shocking if Staal played in Sunday’s night Garden match against the Capitals, and Vigneault made that rather clear. Dealing with a rotating cast of underachieving bottom-two defensemen, Vigneault already seemed to be planning for life without Staal.
“If, for whatever reason, he’s not there [Sunday], we’ve got some guys that have wanted the opportunity to get more ice time and wanted a bigger role, it’s going to be there for them,” Vigneault said. “So, let’s see if they can grab it.”
That most likely means Michael Del Zotto will get back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch for the third time in the past six games, but that’s akin to treating a gunshot wound with a Band-Aid.
The most glaring time when Staal absence was felt came with 4:04 remaining in regulation, when Michael Ryder — Michael Ryder for goodness sake — skated right passed a stick-swinging John Moore and beat Henrik Lundqvist low glove side to give the Devils a 3-2 lead.
“That would have been his turn to go,” Vigneault said about Staal’s time to be on the ice in such a critical moment in the game. “Johnny is a young defenseman. Next time he’ll stop him.”
Staal missed the first 36 games of the 2011-12 season after suffering a concussion on a hit from his brother Eric on Feb. 22, 2011. He returned for the start of last year’s lockout-shortened season, only to suffer a brutal injury when he took a deflected slap shot in the eye on March 5.
Though Staal didn’t say there was any concussion on the eye injury — which kept him out of all but one playoff game the rest of the way — the history makes what happened on Saturday that much more dubious.
“There is concern with any player when there is a situation when something like that happens,” Vigneault said.
There is also concern for Vigneault’s team, which is now 15-14-1, and failed for the sixth time this season to get two games over .500. They have lost all three of the games against the Devils (12-13-6), who found a way to take advantage after Ryan Callahan took a 4-minute high-sticking penalty in overtime.
“It’s a play I can’t make,” said Callahan, who said he was OK after taking a hard slash in the right hand early in the third, as well as a shot to the nether-region which led to Chris Kreider’s 6-on-4 game-tying goal with 21.3 seconds left in regulation. “It cost us a point at the end of the day. That’s on me.”
So the Rangers blew a two-goal lead but still got a point to open up this nine-game homestand.
Kreider called it “bittersweet,” but it Staal is out for any extended period of time, the bitter will be the only thing anyone tastes.