KANATA, Ont. — Brian Boyle has grown almost overnight into a larger than life Captain America, Chris Kreider has provided an enticing sidebar, Henrik Lundqvist has been royalty in nets, and the commitment on the defensive side has been exemplary.
But the Rangers will need more from their bread and butter forwards and from their power play in order to beat the Senators in Game 4 here tonight and thus bring a 3-1 Eastern Conference quarterfinal series lead across the border back to Madison Square Garden for a potential elimination game Saturday.
“The Boyle line [with Ruslan Fedotenko and Brandon Prust] was our best line [in Monday’s 1-0, Game 3 victory], but as far as some of the others, there’s work to do,” coach John Tortorella said following yesterday’s practice. “There’s quite a bit of work to do as far as others being involved.”
The Senators will likely play again without Daniel Alfredsson, who did not practice yesterday and who, according to coach Paul MacLean, suffered “a setback” after participating in Monday’s morning skate.
The Ottawa captain’s status is unknown for the remainder of the series after apparently experiencing renewed post-concussion symptoms in the wake of the elbow to the head he sustained on a Carl Hagelin hit midway through Game 2 in New York last Saturday.
A combination of Hagelin’s three-game suspension, of which he will serve No. 2 tonight, and Derek Stepan’s inefficiency prompted Tortorella to shake up his forward combinations on Monday. He demoted Stepan to the fourth line, inserting Kreider into Hagelin’s spot on the unit with Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik, while reuniting the Boyle unit and the Brandon Dubinsky-Artem Anisimov-Ryan Callahan trio that was so good last year but could not recreate their chemistry early this season.
“It was OK,” Tortorella said when asked for his evaluation of the Anisimov line, and he said it in a manner to suggest OK wasn’t close to being good enough.
More is needed from the power play that is 1-for-11 in 23:06 this series. More is needed from Dubinsky, Anisimov and Stepan.
And more, too, is required from Richards and Gaborik following dips from impressive Game 1 performances, even as the two leading men attempt to mesh with Kreider, a 20-year-old neophyte with whom they had not shared a line rush before Monday’s first period, let alone a sheet of ice before last Wednesday.
“It’s not easy for all three of us,” Richards said yesterday. “I’d never really seen [Kreider] play before, so we’re trying to learn each other’s tendencies and figure out what to do.
“There’s a lot of talking between us on the bench. Chris wants to learn. He asks a lot of questions.”
A week ago Saturday night, Kreider was a Boston College junior playing in the Eagles’ 4-1 victory in the NCAA championship game. Now he’s on the ice with linemates who are building Hall of Fame resumes and facing the likes of Jason Spezza.
“I went from being an 18-year-old [freshman] right to playing in the World Championships [in 2010], so there was a similar type of excitement there,” Kreider said when asked if he has been able to maintain equanimity on his ride on the fast track from Chestnut Hill to the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“In my three years of hockey [at BC], I’ve had enough of that kind of experience that I kind of get numb to that adrenaline rush and excitement.”
larry.brooks@nypost.com