Chris Drury has some advice for his teammates as they prepare for a potential series-clinching Game 5 victory over the Capitals in Washington tomorrow night.
“I think we should go in there thinking we’re down 3-1,” the captain said after last night’s 2-1 triumph at the Garden that gave the Rangers a 3-1 edge in the best-of-7 series. “We have to be as desperate as we can to match their intensity.
“We have to match them.”
Brandon Dubinsky, the center whom John Tortorella matched against Washington’s big guns after Capitals’ coach Bruce Boudreau formed the powerhouse first line of Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin flanking Nicklas Backstrom 6:30 into the second.
Dubinsky, who had Ryan Callahan on the right and Fred Sjostrom primarily on the left, had both a splendid game and his own point of view regarding Game 5.
“We have to find the way to go down there and get the job done,” said Dubinsky, an astounding 15-2 in the faceoff circles during his 19:36 of hand-to-hand combat. “We came home Monday with the 2-0 [series] lead and weren’t ready to win the game.
“We have to learn from that. We can’t have a repeat of that. We have to be focused and ready to play our best game, because that’s what it’s going to take.
“That’s where mental toughness is so important.”
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Sean Avery may face a supplementary discipline chat with NHL VP Colin Campbell for the elbowing penalty he was assessed on an icing race with Milan Jurcina at 10:21 of the third period.
The penalty, which was not originally signaled, was called after a conference involving referees Paul Devorksi and Ian Walsh, and linesmen Shane Heyer and Tim Nowak.
The Rangers were 39-19 on faceoffs, with Scott Gomez 11-6, Blair Betts 10-7 and Drury, 3-4. They have gone 97-78 on draws since losing 46 of 66 in Game 1. The Capitals must have stopped cheating.
Nik Zherdev, who got 6:59 of ice in the first two periods, did not play in the third as Tortorella moved Markus Naslund to the right side with Gomez and Sean Avery while Lauri Korpikoski and Nik Antropov flanked Drury as Tortorella cut down to three lines.
Blair Betts filled in for draws in the defensive zone, killed penalties, and, in a bit of conservatism from Tortorella extreme enough to make Sarah Palin look like a lefty, Betts took a turn on a Rangers power play with 6:00 to go in the third period.
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Marc Staal, matched with partner Dan Girardi against Ovechkin all night, led the Rangers with 24:04 of ice time. …Paul Mara’s goal at 13:55 of the first that gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead ended Simeon Varlamov’s shutout streak at 126:11. … The Rangers killed all six Washington power plays. They’re 4-for-22 on the PK. The Rangers, 0-for-3 on the power play, have failed on 14 straight and are 2-for-18 in the series. … The Caps have outshot Rangers 149-99 through the first four games. Washington has attempted 298 shots, the Rangers 199. … The Rangers have never lost a best-of-7 series they’ve led 3-1. They have previously been in this position 12 times, eight times finishing it off in Game 5, three times in Game 6 and once in Game 7, that in the 1994 Finals against Vancouver.