There is a time to go and a time to stay. And Year Four of Marc Staal’s NHL career is no time, figures Rangers coach John Tortorella, for one of the league’s better shutdown defensemen to shut his mind to opportunities up ice.
Safe is death, Tortorella has always proclaimed. Last trip to Pittsburgh, after a 1-0 lead the Rangers had nursed into the 57th minute turned into a 2-1 deficit, certainly there was no sense hanging around in their own end waiting for the clock to expire on an excruciating loss.
With Henrik Lundqvist penalized for breaking his stick in frustration and the clouds hanging lower than Brandon Dubinsky’s opinion of Sidney Crosby, Staal took off to take the pass of the Rangers’ season from Dubinsky and score the most buoying goal of the season, maybe with the exception of Ryan Callahan’s overtime goal that followed.
Back to Pittsburgh, the scene of Staal entering his prime, go the Rangers tomorrow night, fresh off another shortie, this one deserving an even longer description.
Who was this guy? With partner Dan Girardi in the penalty box and the Rangers up 4-0 on Washington Sunday night, Staal apparently got lonely in the Capitals’ end and decided to make new friends up ice.
“First he makes a great defensive play in the corner and gives it to [Brandon Prust],” said Tortorella. “He sees a chance and he’s just steamrolling up the ice.
“Brian Boyle fakes a shot and gives [Staal] a nice pass and he makes a hell of a move.”
Staal pulled out goalie Semyon Varlamov and slid in the puck on the backhand like he was Paul Coffey, not just a stay-at-home stiff content to stiff an Alexander Ovechkin, which by the way he and Girardi did without a point on Sunday night.
“We all know what he is, a very, very good player,” said Tortorella. “When I first started coaching Marc [two years ago], I don’t think he jumps in on that play. He is growing up, not only defensively, but his offensive game is coming.
“All of our ‘D’ is joining the rush and he leads the way.”
The Rangers want a lot for their nearly $20 million over the next five years. Staal, averaging a team-high 24 minutes a game and playing on the second power-play unit, should give them better than the 27 points he did a year ago, up from 15 the year before, up from 10 the year before that.
With 13 points in 32 games this season, you can see the pattern. And Tortorella, whose team leads the NHL with seven short-handed goals, sees the possibilities.