NHL

Rangers defeat Bruins, but lose defenseman to ‘dangerous’ play

BOSTON — The Rangers passed their midseason test yesterday against the defending Stanley Cup champions, you bet they did, but the 3-2 overtime victory over the Bruins at TD Garden in the battle for first place overall may have come with a heavy price tag.

The severity of the injury to Ryan McDonagh, who was plowed into the rear wall head-and-shoulder first by Andrew Ference at 1:50 of overtime and remained on the ice for several minutes while attended to by trainer Jim Ramsay, was unknown immediately following the match the Rangers captured when Marian Gaborik converted from in front on the resulting major power play with 3.6 seconds to play.

Rangers coach John Tortorella, whose team already has endured the pain of losing Marc Staal for the first 36 games with a concussion and has now gone the last 22 games without the concussed Michael Sauer, left no doubt he believes Ference should be suspended for the reckless play on a chase for the puck down the left side.

“It’s one of the most dangerous plays I’ve seen in a while,” Tortorella said after what had been a terrific contest. “Nothing has to be said as far as what should be done but it’s a pretty easy call as far as I’m concerned.”

Henrik Lundqvist, who is 7-3-2 with a 1.30 goals against average and .955 save percentage in Boston after limiting the Bruins to two goals or fewer for the eighth time in his 12 career starts on their ice, skated to the scrum that formed in the left corner after the hit and unleashed a stream of choice words.

“[Ference] was coming so fast, I was surprised he kept going,” The King said. “I turned my head to see what was in front of me, but from what I saw it was bad.”

The prospect of losing first-pair defenseman McDonagh, who logged 32:04 while Dan Girardi got 33:31, including 12:14 in the third and 1:47 in OT, cast a shadow over the victory that improved the Rangers’ record to 30-12-4 and increased their lead to three points over the Bruins, who have one game in hand.

But it did not diminish the significance of the either the triumph or the effort that produced it. Playing Boston produces an endless series of battles, to which the Rangers responded in the showdown that was hyped everywhere except in the Rangers’ room.

“I don’t know if all the hype was mentioned once, we just wanted to get back to playing the right way after the way we played [against Pittsburgh] the last game,” said Brad Richards, who was stoned in front by Tuukka Rask before Gaborik buried the rebound for his second of the match and 25th of the year.

“Obviously it’s fun, and if you don’t know it’s a big game then you shouldn’t be in the locker room. When you’re facing a team with that firepower, size and confidence, you better be ready and you better be sharp. It was like the playoffs, maybe not quite as physical, but the speed and desperation, they were all there.”

The Rangers did not get a power play through two periods before getting a pair of fruitless advantages in the third. Thus, their skids had reached 0-for-16, 1-for-29 and 3-for-47 when Ference went away with a charging major and game misconduct. Gaborik then won it after Michael Del Zotto prevented the Bruins from skimming the puck down the ice.

“This matchup is good for us in that we play similar styles,” Tortorella said. “But if you’re not ready to do the things you need to do, they’ll run you over.”

Like McDonagh was by Ference.