PHILADELPHIA — Dan Carcillo may not be anyone’s notion of a prototypical Ranger and he may not fit the definition of a savior as, say, Bobby Sheehan did against the Flyers when summoned and inserted into the lineup following an opening overtime defeat in the 1979 Cup quarterfinals to spark the Blueshirts to four consecutive victories and a five-game series triumph.
But Carcillo’s entry into this first-round series against these Flyers for Game 3 following a split of the opening two games at the Garden proved a key component in a 4-1 victory as Tuesday night became Throwback Night for the Rangers … a throwback all the way to 2011-12, when that club earned the label, “Black-and-Blueshirts.”
This team that thrives on open ice, creativity and pushing the pace, well, it pushed back after getting pushed around a little bit in Game 2. The Rangers blocked shots, 28 of them in all according to the official sheet; they competed for every puck, and they did so with a sense of urgency absent at the Garden. This game was won in tight quarters.
“You could feel the intensity, and you could feel the desperation,” Brad Richards said. “We were on every puck, we had sticks on pucks, and our penalty killers just laid it all on the line. A lot of guys were sacrificing out there, but that’s what it takes to win these games.”
Brian Boyle got black-and-blue and so did Dan Girardi, getting in lanes, getting in the way of pucks. On this night, at least in their own end of the ice, the Rangers of Alain Vigneault looked a lot like the Rangers of John Tortorella.
“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with that,” said Richards. “There are different ways to win, and different ways to win in the playoffs. We did what we needed to do.”
And so did Carcillo, inserted into the lineup at the expense of fresh-faced freshman Jesper Fast, who seemed out of his element through the opening two matches at the Garden. Carcillo, of course had been persona non grata around the Garden for years since whaling on Marian Gaborik right here in the Flyers’ building on Jan. 22, 2010 while wearing No. 13 for the home team.
But then Carcillo slipped into the Blueshirt this January after a trade with the Kings … and though Ranger fans might only have been lukewarm in receiving him, he could probably get a parade through Manhattan right now after his hard-edged effort last night that culminated with him scoring the match’s final goal.
The winger with previous anger-management issues played with admirable restraint for most of the night, taking one over-aggressive penalty that can be understood if not quite condoned.
Carcillo took an uncalled (and maybe unintentional?) forearm/elbow to the jaw from Matt Read early in the third that knocked him down, if not out, and wasn’t especially pleased about it. He cleared encroaching Flyers from Henrik Lundqvist’s crease, shoving them away. He added fiber to the diet.
No. 13 was a presence, and a constructive one, and when he returned to the bench with arms held high after he scored at 10:53 redirecting Boyle’s two-on-two feed past Ray Emery, he was greeted by front-row fans with upraised middle fingers signifying just how they considered him “No. 1” or something like that.
“Nothing surprises about this city and the way people act,” said Carcillo, who played 153 games in two-plus seasons with the Flyers from late 2008-09 through 2010-11.
Carcillo earned himself a reputation with which perhaps only Raffi Torres or Matt Cooke can identify. This was a player who’d been suspended or fined 10 different times throughout his career and was regarded as incorrigible.
Every time he goes on the ice, he is under a microscope. He is guilty of being an undisciplined and undependable wild card until able to prove himself innocent of the charges. Carcillo understands that.
“When you get pigeon-holed and locked into a role, it’s hard to change people’s minds around the league,” said Carcillo, who has pretty much been a model citizen as a Ranger. “When I get the opportunity I have to make the most of it.”
The Rangers went five-for-five on the penalty kill, and three-for-three in the second period of this mysteriously called match in which the Flyers attempted to instigate on essentially every stop of play. The Rangers were equal to the challenge.
The Boyle-Dom Moore-Derek Dorsett unit played smashmouth hockey. The Rick Nash-Derek Stepan-Marty St. Louis first line scored the Rangers’ first two goals for a 2-0 lead by 10:24. Lundqvist was steadfast in nets.
This wasn’t classical hockey, but the Blueshirts were a symphony. Flautists played the flute. Percussionists played the drums.
Guess in which section of the Black-and-Blue Orchestra Carcillo sat?