Early October must seem like years ago for Rangers coach John Tortorella, who was then faced with a decision to find a top defensive pair and stumbled upon a duo that has been bettered by few, if any, in the league.
It was in Stockholm, Sweden, on Oct. 7, 2011, when Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh played together for game No. 1 of 82 in the regular season. It has been followed by 15 playoff games as the shutdown blue line mates prepare for Wednesday night’s Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Devils at the Garden, up in the best-of-seven series, 1-0.
Tortorella was forced to match the two because Marc Staal, the regular partner for Girardi the previous four seasons, was suffering from post-concussion symptoms that would keep him out until the Winter Classic on Jan. 2.
“It’s funny how it works out when you end up with injuries,” Tortorella said Tuesday. “We always talk about when there are injuries, another guy gets an opportunity. You never know where it’s going to lead you.”
Where it led Tortorella was to finding more than just a replacement for Staal, but an emerging young talent in McDonagh that has proven in these playoffs to be as integral in the Rangers’ defense as anyone.
“With [McDonagh], the amount of time he got so quickly in key situations because of that injury has accelerated his process, where that may be a year down the road if we didn’t have an injury,” Tortorella said. “So you never know how this works out.”
McDonagh made his presence felt in Monday’s 3-0 Rangers win in Game 1, covering for Girardi when the Devils’ two most lethal scorers, Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk, both sprung through with breakaways and were caught from behind by McDonagh.
“I’m lucky he’s such a good skater,” Girardi said. “I had a couple of tough plays right off the start. And I think Mac did a good job of covering for me and making some good, solid plays, and that helped me get past a couple of things.”
McDonagh also helped Tortorella get past Michael Sauer’s concussion, when the top-four defenseman was drilled by the Maple Leafs’ Dion Phaneuf on Dec. 5. Sauer has been out indefinitely, not skating with the team since February.
When Staal did return, Tortorella had to decide if he wanted to reunite him and Girardi, or keep Girardi and McDonagh together. First, he eased Staal back in by pairing him with the sixth defenseman, Stu Bickel. In Winnipeg on March 28, Tortorella decided Staal was ready to play more, so he paired him with Anton Stralman, while Michael Del Zotto went with Bickel.
With the exception of some in-game switches on the back two pairs — mostly in the third period — Tortorella has stayed with those combinations. They have proven to trust each other, which Girardi and McDonagh did right off the bat.
“I think if there’s a grace period like that, you’re not going to be very successful,” Girardi said. “Especially starting the year in Europe and kind of got together there, and it was just had to have trust in the guy right away.”
McDonagh came to the Rangers in a trade from Montreal three years ago that sent Scott Gomez and his dead-weight contract into Canadian hibernation. McDonagh has turned out to be the gem of that deal, highlighted not only by his stellar season, but a postseason that has seen he and Girardi contain the Senators’ Jason Spezza in the first round and the Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin in the second.
“Every time it’s brought up, it’s a good lesson,” McDonagh said of the trade. “I say it was a good lesson to learn that there was a business side of things, and I was able to learn that at a young age.”
“I love the guys we have in our locker room and what we’ve got going,” said the 22-year-old with overgrown poise. “It’s a special feeling to be a part of that.”
And odds are McDonagh will get a chance to be a part of it, along with Girardi, for a long time to come.
“I’m not sure if I’ll ever split those two guys up,” Tortorella said. “That’s just the way it works, and that’s the interesting part when you have injuries, how things work out.”