PITTSBURGH — The Three-Ring Circus at the Garden last week earned Devils coach Pete DeBoer and general manager Lou Lamoriello a trip to the NHL woodshed, The Post has learned.
It remains unknown whether NHL vice president Colin Campbell also rebuked Rangers coach John Tortorella for his part in the spectacle of three opening faceoff fights to start the Blueshirts’ 4-2 victory over the Devils on Monday.
It is believed no fines were levied by Campbell, who had said the teams violated no rules or by-laws in the fracas, although conduct detrimental to the interests of the league might be applied.
DeBoer and Lamoriello are said to have accepted what is believed to have been a reprimand from Campbell, who viewed the faceoff fun as wrong.
Campbell apparently waited a few days before taking DeBoer and Lamoriello to task for their parts in the fracas. DeBoer claimed he was repaying Tortorella for starting his tough guys Dec. 20 in Newark, which resulted in an opening-draw fight. The teams also had two bouts at game’s start on Feb. 7 at the Garden.
On Monday, visiting coach DeBoer issued his starting lineup first, listing Cam Janssen, Eric Boulton and Ryan Carter. Tortorella responded with Brandon Prust, Mike Rupp and Brandon Dubinsky. Rangers defenseman Stu Bickel moved up for the faceoff, and three seconds into play, Janssen fought Prust, Boulton battled Rupp and Carter took on Bickel. After the fights on Monday, Tortorella was seen yelling at DeBoer, who later said the Rangers coach had either “short-term memory loss,” or “he’s a hypocrite. One or the other,” referring to the Dec. 20 game.
DeBoer was referring to the Dec. 20 game, when Tortorella started Prust, Rupp and Ruslan Fedotenko, launching the first of the three opening faceoff exhibitions.
On Tuesday, Tortorella told DeBoer to “just shut up,” adding that he should follow his own advice, too.