Coach Alain Vigneault knows the Rangers may troop to the penalty box in large numbers during Friday’s Game 4 against the Philadelphia Flyers, as they did in winning Game 3
The Flyers are experts at irritating their opponents, and sometimes it seems as if the Rangers cannot help themselves. It all points to another busy night of penalties as the Rangers try to take a 3-1 series lead back to Madison Square Garden.
The Rangers can find some reason to hope, then, in Game 3: They were 5 for 5 killing penalties.
“It was a big part of going into that tough environment to win that game,” Vigneault said. “If we need the penalty killing, which we’re probably going to have to next game, it’s going to have to be good again.”
The Flyers had the most penalty minutes in the N.H.L. during the regular season (14.4 per game) and were short-handed 316 times. But they also goaded their opponents into taking penalties: The Flyers’ 294 power plays also led the league.
In Game 3 on Tuesday, those tactics included late shoves and surreptitious slashes to players’ hands, like the ones Claude Giroux inflicted on Marc Staal and Derick Brassard.
“It’s something that we expect, in the sense that we know that’s how they play,” Vigneault said. “We’ve just got to play through it; we’ve got to play whistle to whistle. Referees have got a job to do. We’re trying to do our job.”
At practice Thursday at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers worked on special teams and examined video of Philadelphia goalie Steve Mason, who is back from an injury, believed to be a concussion. He will take over for Ray Emery.
The Rangers ranked No. 3 in penalty killing during the regular season, thwarting 198 of their opponents’ 232 power plays, an official success rate of 85.3 percent. (Throw in the Rangers’ 10 short-handed goals, and the rate climbs to 89.7 percent.) They killed the last 17 chances they faced in the regular season, a span of more than seven games.
The Rangers’ top penalty-killing forward is Brian Boyle, who has been on the ice for 6 minutes 40 seconds of the 14:09 that the team has been short-handed in the Flyers series. Boyle has thrived in past postseasons — a point he has been sure to make with his coach.
“He mentioned that to me quite a few times throughout the year,” Vigneault said, eliciting laughter from reporters. “I said, Why didn’t you try that a little bit before?”
After the laughter subsided, Vigneault continued: “He’s very good on the penalty kill. He’s always the first unit that I throw out there. So we need him.”
Boyle takes pride in the team’s penalty killing, which is 7 for 9 in the playoffs. He pushed back at the suggestion that the Rangers had less success in their Game 2 loss, in which they killed only 1 of 3 Philadelphia power plays.
“We gave one up on a tough bounce, and the other was an empty-netter,” Boyle said. “I know you guys like your stats, but I wouldn’t call that a P.K. goal against.”
The Rangers blocked 10 shots while killing penalties Tuesday, and Dominic Moore, who has been on the ice in short-handed situations for 5:32, the second-longest duration among forwards, talked about the courage that took.
“It’s an expectation,” he said of blocking a shot, acknowledging that it could hurt. “But a worse feeling is when you try and block it and you miss, and it goes through and goes in. That’s when you get really upset. The pain of blocking a shot you don’t get upset about.”
Rangers wing Daniel Carcillo, a former Flyer, was responsible for two short-handed situations Tuesday, but once the Rangers had successfully killed his second penalty, he scored the team’s fourth goal of the game, shortly after coming out of the penalty box.
As he celebrated along the boards, infuriated Flyers fans made vulgar gestures at him. Earlier in the third period, he had been knocked flat by a blindside hit from Matt Read, and as he lay dazed on the ice, Flyers fans cheered wildly.
After the game, Carcillo said, “Nothing surprises me about this city and the way people act.”
He also mentioned that the Flyers did not try to re-sign him after the 2010-11 season.
“It basically means they don’t want you to come back and score a big goal,” he said.
After practice Thursday, Carcillo said he had been criticized by Flyers fans on social media but added, “I really don’t pay attention to that stuff.”
He added, “If I’m doing my job properly, there won’t be too many people there who like me.”
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