MONTREAL — Whether it’s fault or misfortune is irrelevant now, as the Rangers are in the midst of a malicious windstorm of events that could derail their season before it ever felt like it began.
Last night it was a 3-0 loss to the Canadiens at the Bell Center, making the Blueshirts 0-2-1 in the past three, their worst stretch of this lockout-shortened season.
But the overhanging cloud is made darkest by the mounting injuries, the newest additions coming to defensemen Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi, the two legs on which the team’s defense stands. There was no update on either of them after the game, but both situations looked dire.
“It’s hard any time you see a teammate go down, especially key guys,” captain Ryan Callahan said. “It’s no easy thing.”
The first turn came midway through the second period, when McDonagh was plowed face-first into the backboards by Max Pacioretty. A boarding call was made, but that certainly didn’t appease coach John Tortorella.
“Can I ask the first question?” is how Tortorella opened his postgame press conference. “How high did Pacioretty jump on his hit? Over/under?”
A reporter says six inches.
“You’re wrong,” the coach said.
Whether he jumped or not did not change the fact that McDonagh left the game and did not return. He skated off the ice holding his face, and it can be assumed that in addition to many stitches, he was tested for a concussion.
Then in the waning minutes of the third period, the Rangers already down 3-0 and fighting off a 5-on-3 man-advantage for the Canadiens, Girardi took a monster slap shot from P.K. Subban in his right leg, writhing in pain and unable to get off the ice under his own power.
“I don’t know if it was getting hit in the head or [Girardi] going down, but my stomach turned upside down at that moment,” said backup goalie Martin Biron, who had been run over Travis Moen and made 15 stops in his fourth start of the season. “It was just a tough thing to see.”
The Rangers (8-7-2) already were playing without superstar forward Rick Nash, who still was in New York suffering from an undisclosed injury that has kept him out of this three-game slide. Penalty-kill forward Darroll Powe is out indefinitely with a concussion, Arron Asham missed his second game in a row with back spasms, and defenseman Michael Del Zotto missed his first game with a lower-body injury suffered in Thursday’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Senators.
So after a strong first period that bode well for the Rangers compensating for the losses, the second period saw the Canadiens (12-4-2, first in the Eastern Conference) score three unanswered goals from Eric Cole, Alex Galchenyuk and Lars Eller. And coming out in the third, Tortorella found it in his best interest to play Marian Gaborik, benching the team’s leading goal scorer from last season for the entire third period.
That was all they needed to keep the Rangers reeling, licking their wounds figuratively and literally all the way back down the St. Lawrence River and into the New York harbor for Tuesday’s game against the Jets at the Garden. Who dresses for that one is anyone’s guess.
“We can’t get into a panic mode,” Tortorella said. “It’s just a matter of trying to find yourself, have some good things happen and gain some confidence.”