It’s a time-honored tradition for a coach to engage in gamesmanship by working the officials between games of a playoff series. Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau did just that yesterday after his team fled New York following Sunday afternoon’s Game 3, 3-2 defeat at the Garden to have a couple of days of practice back home before returning to Manhattan for Game 4 tomorrow night.
But the coach’s charges that the Rangers are headhunting the previously concussed Mike Green are baseless and shrill, no matter the tenor of his voice. His attempt at comparing Marc Staal’s check on the defenseman at the 19-minute mark of the second period to the run Raffi Torres took at Brent Seabrook in Chicago on Sunday not only is a charge, it trivializes the serious issue of head-shots.
Boudreau lobbied for the league to review the play on which Staal took out Green in the slot as Alex Ovechkin was scoring to tie the game. The Rangers’ alternate captain, punished relentlessly during the first two games in DC, could have been called for interference after catching the Capitals defenseman as he seemed to be stumbling, but nothing more.
“It was to the side of the head and a dirty shot [and] I hope the league looks at it,” said Boudreau, who earlier in the day decided he needed to denigrate the Garden. “It wasn’t the only time they targeted Mike’s head . . . and they targeted it a few times.”
The NHL did not believe the check was worthy of any type of official review proceeding, though citing the league’s position on head-shots as supporting evidence regarding an individual play is often a fool’s errand, as we all were reminded yesterday when Torres escaped scot-free.
“This is the first I’m aware there’s even a question,” Staal said when told of Boudreau’s charge. “[Green] was coming across and I was just finishing my check.
“I certainly didn’t try to hurt him. If he was laying on the ice unconscious, that would be a different story.”
The story, though, is Boudreau has implanted the allegation in the consciousness of league officials who will work the remainder of this best-of-seven, in which it’s important for the Rangers to hammer Green as often as possible.
That’s gamesmanship in the playoffs, a tradition as old as tossing octopi onto the ice in Detroit. Oops.
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Matt Gilroy was asked if he understood why he was a scratch for 10 of the final 14 regular-season games but has been an important part of coach John Tortorella’s lineup throughout this series. “I have no idea,” the defenseman replied.
“I don’t ask questions, I’m just thankful to have the opportunity and am trying to run with it as long as I can,” Gilroy told The Post. “(Tortorella)Â told me my ability to create offense is a big reason, but never to forget that my first responsibility is to defend, that’s not just me, but all of us.
“That’s not new, though. He’s been adamant about that all year.”
Gilroy is on the final year of the two-year contract he signed as an undrafted free agent out of Boston University two years ago. He’ll become a restricted free agent on July 1, owed a pricey $2.1 million qualifier for the Rangers to retain his rights.
It’s expected general manager Glen Sather will offer Gilroy a multi-year deal at an average wage well below that number. If Gilroy declines, he would become unrestricted.
“To be honest, that’s the furthest thing from my mind right now,” Gilroy said. “This is my first playoffs, and to be a part of it in New York, just to have this experience of playing these games at the Garden, that’s what I care about.”