So three players in 10 games have been knocked silly on checks from opponents, legal or otherwise, and yet here are the Rangers on the brink of Round 2 elimination tonight at the Garden, content to turn the other cheek on their way to a Boston sweep.
Enough, already, with the politeness and the fear of taking a penalty. Enough, already, with going down with a whimper.
Maybe the Capitals were nastier. Maybe the Bruins are bigger and faster. Maybe the Bruins are better. Well, OK, scratch the “maybes.”
But does it have to hold that the Blueshirts should appear timid, and on their own ice, no less? Does this have to be an endless loop of history; of Teddy Green spearing Phil Goyette, or that damn Pie McKenzie doing whatever he pleased to anyone wearing the Blueshirt?
(Sorry, for the lapse in decorum, Pie; that was the old Section 419 in me doing the talking.)
Game 3 of Round 1, there’s Darroll Powe concussed 8:20 into the first period on a nicely placed defensive elbow from Joel Ward on the Ranger’s attempted hit.
Game 5 of Round 1, there’s Ryane Clowe concussed at 4:40 of the first period on a boarding violation committed by Jason Chimera.
Game 3 of Round 2, Tuesday night’s 2-1 Bruins’ victory, there’s Anton Stralman at 13:06 of the second period essentially broken in two by a huge blow from Milan Lucic.
And there were the Rangers, watching all the collateral damage, reminiscent of that scene at the beginning of the movie “Tombstone” in which the Wyatt Earp character slaps the faro dealer across the face and taunts him with a sneer.
“You gonna do something, or just stand there and bleed?” Earp says to Johnny Tyler.
Understand. The last thing I would ever do is question an NHL player’s courage. Every athlete in the league puts himself at physical risk simply by going on the ice. I am not saying, implying or hinting the Rangers are afraid.
But as far as punishment is concerned, they are taking far more than they are inflicting, and that’s true even with Ryan Callahan playing with a sneer, finishing every check imaginable, and with his stick held high as often as not.
The Bruins are beating the Rangers in open ice and they are beating the Blueshirts in tight quarters. The first might be a function of talent. The second might be a function of size and strength. But it has also been a function of want. The Rangers are being outworked.
Boston is holding its ground in front of an increasingly beleaguered Henrik Lundqvist. The Rangers haven’t established their ground at all.
They have not played with a level of desperation and commitment necessary to win Round 2 of the playoffs. That’s the biggest surprise of the series.
A year ago, the Rangers led the NHL in fighting majors and Tortorella sure seemed to revel in the Blueshirts’ physical swagger. That’s what has made this season’s reticence to drop the gloves so puzzling. That’s what makes a season of turning the other cheek so confusing. It can’t just be Brandon Prust’s departure.
Derek Dorsett wouldn’t fight Shawn Thornton when he was challenged the other night? Why? Certainly not because he might have been physically cowed. Because he didn’t think it was the right time or place? Because the Rangers are instructed not to? Arron Asham can’t get on the ice for this coach? Hard to figure.
The Rangers have been shorthanded just 21 times in 10 playoff games, and just 17 times since the 7:00 mark of the second period of Game 1 in Washington. Twice in the last five matches — Game 6 against the Caps and Game 3 against the Bruins — they went entire games without being down a man.
That goes beyond discipline. That goes to a lack of initiating and responding and it goes to a fear of playing on the edge. And now they’re on a ledge.
Down 3-0, it almost impossible to see all the way up. But if the Rangers are going to go down, at least they don’t have to be so polite about it.