Here's the thing about the Rangers, the best thing they can carry into Game 7 in Washington tonight:
That no matter how much of a mess they've made of this series, in which they were once up 3-1; no matter how much of a circus they've created with benchings and suspensions and a general lack of discipline in terms of both laughable offensive and defensive play and doing stupid pet tricks, they still have a shot.
Now, if they continue to let the Capitals play like the 1984 Edmonton Oilers, all the while scoring about as frequently as the Red Bulls, then they will play another meaningless third period and will shake the hands that have bitten them (figuratively and literally) and go home for the season.
And the Caps will have become the 21st team in NHL history to escape a 3-1 hole to win a series.
Who knows? Maybe Henrik Lundqvist plays one of those remarkable games and wins it himself. Maybe the young Caps collapse under the pressure. Maybe their rookie goalie, who could have played much of this series in a reclining chair, gives up a bad one, or two.
That said, it will take more than the return of John Tortorella behind the bench after his one-game suspension, and more than Sean Avery being Sean Avery again, and not the meek and gentle Avery we saw in Game 6 after Tortorella sat him in Game 5. It will certainly take a return of Lundqvist - who stopped 141 of the first 149 shots he saw in the series, allowing the Rangers to split four games in which they scored a total of three times; and not the imposter who was pulled from each of the last two games, allowing nine goals on 34 shots.
"Concerns about Hank?" Tortorella said. "Well, Hank's got to play better, and he knows that. ... But with Hank, and the reason I'm not talking to him, is he battles. He gets it. And for us to have an opportunity, he has to be really good. Like, early in the series, he was really good, and that's why we have an opportunity to play a Game 7, because he won some of those early games."
Tortorella, by the way, has yet to issue an apology or even a remark on his suspension for squirting water on a fan, hitting a woman in the head with a thrown water bottle or brandishing a stick Friday night. The coach who supposedly demands accountability wouldn't comment on the subject at all yesterday.
Lundqvist simply said, "It feels good to have our coach back, no question."
He and Tortorella and pretty much everybody talked about the opportunity ahead, and Lundqvist touched on the ebbs and flows of the series, and the distractions.
"That's the thing in playoffs," he said. "Everything can turn on you so fast, both directions."
He also said, "It's important that we put everything behind us here that's been going on in the last couple of days."
One of those is the loss of Blair Betts, who has a fractured orbital bone and a concussion from the head hit by Donald Brashear, who yesterday was suspended for five games for the hit and another game for a pregame-warmup confrontation with Colton Orr.
Brandon Dubinsky has bite marks on his right wrist - he said he was bitten by Shaone Morrisonn, though others said it was Mike Green - took a tetanus shot and is on antibiotics, but expects to play. Apparently, there wasn't enough video evidence for another suspension.
The Rangers have scored 10 goals in the series - four against Game 1 starter Jose Theodore, who has been benched since; and two at garbage time in Game 6, when down 5-1 in the third period. The rest of the series: four.
"We are what we are," Tortorella said. "We struggle to score goals. It's gone on all year long.
"It's been a fight. I know it's been a fight prior to when I came here, and it's been a fight since I came, too."
Tonight the fight is for their lives.
That no matter how much of a mess they've made of this series, in which they were once up 3-1; no matter how much of a circus they've created with benchings and suspensions and a general lack of discipline in terms of both laughable offensive and defensive play and doing stupid pet tricks, they still have a shot.
Now, if they continue to let the Capitals play like the 1984 Edmonton Oilers, all the while scoring about as frequently as the Red Bulls, then they will play another meaningless third period and will shake the hands that have bitten them (figuratively and literally) and go home for the season.
And the Caps will have become the 21st team in NHL history to escape a 3-1 hole to win a series.
Who knows? Maybe Henrik Lundqvist plays one of those remarkable games and wins it himself. Maybe the young Caps collapse under the pressure. Maybe their rookie goalie, who could have played much of this series in a reclining chair, gives up a bad one, or two.
That said, it will take more than the return of John Tortorella behind the bench after his one-game suspension, and more than Sean Avery being Sean Avery again, and not the meek and gentle Avery we saw in Game 6 after Tortorella sat him in Game 5. It will certainly take a return of Lundqvist - who stopped 141 of the first 149 shots he saw in the series, allowing the Rangers to split four games in which they scored a total of three times; and not the imposter who was pulled from each of the last two games, allowing nine goals on 34 shots.
"Concerns about Hank?" Tortorella said. "Well, Hank's got to play better, and he knows that. ... But with Hank, and the reason I'm not talking to him, is he battles. He gets it. And for us to have an opportunity, he has to be really good. Like, early in the series, he was really good, and that's why we have an opportunity to play a Game 7, because he won some of those early games."
Tortorella, by the way, has yet to issue an apology or even a remark on his suspension for squirting water on a fan, hitting a woman in the head with a thrown water bottle or brandishing a stick Friday night. The coach who supposedly demands accountability wouldn't comment on the subject at all yesterday.
Lundqvist simply said, "It feels good to have our coach back, no question."
He and Tortorella and pretty much everybody talked about the opportunity ahead, and Lundqvist touched on the ebbs and flows of the series, and the distractions.
"That's the thing in playoffs," he said. "Everything can turn on you so fast, both directions."
He also said, "It's important that we put everything behind us here that's been going on in the last couple of days."
One of those is the loss of Blair Betts, who has a fractured orbital bone and a concussion from the head hit by Donald Brashear, who yesterday was suspended for five games for the hit and another game for a pregame-warmup confrontation with Colton Orr.
Brandon Dubinsky has bite marks on his right wrist - he said he was bitten by Shaone Morrisonn, though others said it was Mike Green - took a tetanus shot and is on antibiotics, but expects to play. Apparently, there wasn't enough video evidence for another suspension.
The Rangers have scored 10 goals in the series - four against Game 1 starter Jose Theodore, who has been benched since; and two at garbage time in Game 6, when down 5-1 in the third period. The rest of the series: four.
"We are what we are," Tortorella said. "We struggle to score goals. It's gone on all year long.
"It's been a fight. I know it's been a fight prior to when I came here, and it's been a fight since I came, too."
Tonight the fight is for their lives.
