And in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference final, the Canadiens finally decided to test the Rangers’ whistle-to-whistle mantra of patience and zero retaliation.
Down 2-0 in the series and desperate, the Canadiens’ strategy was clear Thursday night at the Garden: Rile the Rangers.
So they went to the agitation well, setting the edgiest tone of the series in the first period. And it worked — costing the Rangers winger Daniel Carcillo, who was given a game misconduct for mixing it up with linesman Scott Driscoll.
Aside from the game-winning goal by Montreal’s Alex Galchenyuk 1:12 into overtime, the Carcillo incident was the ugliest moment of the night in a deflating 3-2 Rangers loss.
The incident took place while Rangers winger Derek Dorsett was fighting with Montreal’s Brandon Prust at 5:51 of the first period — moments after Carcillo had been called for a charging penalty. Dorsett went after Prust for a making questionable hit to the head that left Rangers center Derek Stepan hurt on the ice minutes earlier.
As Dorsett and Prust fought, instead of skating to the penalty box, Carcillo stood a few yards away watching the fight, showing no intent on joining the fracas.
Driscoll skated over and put his hands on Carcillo’s midsection to move him away from the fray. That’s when Carcillo inexplicably lost his composure, angrily trying to push and even elbow Driscoll. With that, Driscoll ran him for the game — and possibly longer.
Carcillo, who was unavailable for comment after the game, faces possible suspension depending on how the NHL interprets his offense.
“You can’t do what obviously [Carcillo] did there,’’ Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. “We’ll let the league handle that. If a penalty would have been called on Prust [for the hit on Stepan] that probably wouldn’t have happened, but there’s nothing we can do about it.
“I didn’t think Dan deserved to get a penalty on that,’’ Vigneault went on. “ [Dorsett] obviously felt they went after one of our top players and he decided to do something about it.’’
According to Rule 40, there are three categories in a game misconduct penalty situation involving a player having physical contact with an official that carry an automatic suspension.
The most likely category the Carcillo offense falls under is Category III, which states: “Any player who, by his actions, physically demeans an official or physically threatens an official by (but not limited to) throwing a stick or any other piece of equipment or object at or in the general direction of an official, shooting the puck at or in the general direction of an official, spitting at or in the general direction of an official, or who deliberately applies physical force to an official solely for the purpose of getting free of such an official during or immediately following an altercation shall be suspended for not less than three games.’’
Category I carries a 20-game suspension, but it involves a player “deliberately’’ striking an official and causing injury, which Carcillo did not do.
Category II carries a 10-game suspension and it involves a player who “deliberately applies physical force to an official in any manner … which physical force is applied without intent to injure, or who spits on an official.’’
The determination of which category Carcillo is penalized under is expected to be announced Friday.
In Carcillo’s absence, Vigneault replaced him on the Brian Boyle-Dorsett line with Martin St. Louis, Carl Hagelin and a little bit of Chris Kreider — adding to their minutes.
Carcillo, who was a healthy scratch in Game 1 of the series, played in Game 2 to replaced Derick Brassard, who was injured in Game 1. He was a spark plug for the Rangers in the first-round series against the Flyers, scoring two goals in three game,s and also played three games against Pittsburgh, registering no points.