Apparently, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault had seen enough good from Benoit Pouliot over the course of the season that a couple of boneheaded mistakes didn’t get the winger a permanent seat on the bench.
In the 4-1 Game 3 win over the Flyers on Tuesday in Philadelphia, Pouliot took two miserable offensive-zone penalties, both while the Rangers were on the power play. Although Vigneault said Pouliot needed to “rein it in” and “do a better job next game,” the coach still gave him an important 13:37 of ice time.
“I think every situation is different, and [Tuesday] night, we’re in a tough building, a tough environment, and you have to trust your players,” Vigneault said in a conference call on Wednesday, his team, leading the best-of-seven series 2-1, getting the day off in preparation for Game 4 on Friday in Philadelphia. “They’re always walking that fine line between what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable. I know Benny’s intentions [were] good.”
Pouliot has been part of the team’s most consistently effective offensive line with Mats Zuccarello and Derick Brassard.
“Sometimes the situation might be that you sit down your player and address it, give him a couple shifts off,” Vigneault said. “And sometimes, you have to let your players work their way through. In those instances [Tuesday] night, I thought Benny could work his way through it.”
There was no hearing for Flyers forward Matt Read, who took out Dan Carcillo with a drive-by shoulder to the chin with 13:41 remaining in the third period on Tuesday.
Although Carcillo went to the ice and lay motionless for some time, there was no penalty called.
The Flyers didn’t practice in full on Wednesday, but according to reports, starting goalie Steve Mason was on the ice with their taxi squad and the likely scratches. Barring a setback as he recovers from what is believed to be a concussion, Mason is almost assuredly going to start Game 4 over Ray Emery, who started the first three games of the series.
Mason backed up in Game 3, and played the final 7:15 in mop-up duty after Emery was pulled with the Flyers down 4-1.