It was a different era and a different time.
But the same NHL.
May 5, 1992. A date forever etched in infamy in the minds and hearts of old-time Penguins fans. Game 2 of the Patrick Division Finals. The Pens had taken Game 1 and were up on the Rangers, 1-0, thanks to an early goal by Kevin Stevens. New York d-man Joe Cirella took an elbowing penalty (sound familiar?) and the Pens went to work on the power play.
Ron Francis won the faceoff and drew the puck back to Mario Lemieux at the left point. As Super Mario gathered in the pass, penalty killer Adam Graves approached with bad intentions.
“When I saw Adam coming I knew he wasn’t kidding around,” Mario would later recall.
Wielding his stick like a baseball bat, Graves swung for the fences and caught Lemieux with a wicked two-handed slash across the left wrist. Mario crumpled to the ice in pain. After what seemed like an eternity, he picked himself and skated off the ice and into the locker room, clutching his broken hand.
Speculation was rampant that Rangers coach Roger Neilson, who had a well-known affinity for back-alley tactics, had placed a bounty on Mario. It was later revealed he’d encouraged his charges to “take Lemieux out of the game.”
Fast forward to last night. Up 3-1 in the series, the Pens carried a 2-0 lead into the closing minutes of the second period. We’d survived an early Rangers push and physical assault and were methodically choking the life out of our hosts. Front and center was black-and-gold captain Sidney Crosby and linemates Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust. The New Yorkers simply had no answer for the plucky trio, who were dominating the series.
No legal answer, that is.
Displaying his typical sled-dog tenacity, Sid was in hot pursuit of a loose puck in the high slot. His head was down.
That was all the invitation Jacob Trouba needed. The hulking Blueshirts d-man, who’d already taken an early penalty for elbowing Guentzel, took a run at Sid and smashed him in the head with a chicken-wing elbow. Crosby recoiled, then skated straight for our bench. Shades of Mario 30 years earlier.
As the camera followed him, my stomach turned. I’ve seen that dazed expression on Sid’s face before. Far too many times.
Concussion immediately flashed across my mind.
Adding insult to injury, Trouba wasn’t even penalized for his blatant cheap shot. As announcer Jim Carr frothed in Slap Shot during a Chiefs-Bulldogs brawl, “This is hockey.”
The shift in the proceedings was immediate, audible and oh so damaging. Lifeless only moments before, the Rangers poured three pucks past a suddenly all-too-mortal Louis Domingue in a span of 2:42 to grab a 3-2 lead. Although Guentzel struck moments later in an enormous display of heart and character to knot the score, Domingue couldn’t hold the fort. The Rangers went on to win the game. Just as they had on that fateful Tuesday night back in 1992.
Another goon win by a goon team and goon coach. All Rangers bench boss Gerard Gallant, no shrinking violet during his playing days, seems capable of is to harp on his team to finish their checks. He got his wish.
Somewhere Neilson must be smiling.
I guess crime does pay after all. At least in the NHL.
It’s an open secret throughout the league that we don’t protect our stars. I understand coach Mike Sullivan’s aversion to employing a hired gun…to an extent. He doesn’t want a guy taking up a roster spot who can’t contribute.
To that end, I’ve kept an eye on former Pens and present Rangers hit man Ryan Reaves. While he’s thrown some booming checks and does his best to stir the pot and intimidate, I honestly don’t know if he contributes much in the way of hockey.
Maybe the presence of a Reaves-esque heavyweight would’ve encouraged Trouba to mind his manners. Maybe it wouldn’t. Still, the Pens can’t continue to turn a blind eye to affording their stars some protection. When push comes to shove, we’re a punching bag for the rest of the league. While no one can question our grit and heart, some pushback and snarl would do nicely.
I’ve written this before, but somewhere out there is a player who can hit and fight and play a little. GM Ron Hextall needs to find him, Sully’s preferences be damned.
In the meantime? I sure would like to see, say, Nicolas Deslauriers sporting the black and gold next season. And I’d like to see him pound the daylights out of Trouba at the earliest opportunity.
Not very Christian of me, I know. I’m talking old school, or rather Old Testament.
David vs. Goliath. An eye for an eye.
As presently constructed, our Pens simply don’t have an answer. Not unless Brian Boyle and/or Mark Friedman man up and send a message. While both are willing, enforcing really isn’t their game.
Back to ’92. Then coach Scotty Bowman urged his players to forget about revenge and concentrate on winning the series. “Putting the puck in the net is the worst aggression to another team,” said the Hall-of-Fame skipper.
The Pens listened. We went on to win the series in six games. Let’s hope for a redux for our current bunch. Honestly, we deserved a better fate last night.
Puckpourri
Guentzel (two goals) and Kris Letang scored for the Pens, the latter capping a beautiful passing sequence from Evgeni Malkin and Jason Zucker. Jake has a mind-boggling seven goals for the series. Geno collected two assists on the night.
Adam Fox, Alexis Lafreniere (impressive kid), Trouba, Filip Chytil and Ryan Lindgren (empty netter) scored for the Rangers.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Rangers had the edge in shot attempts (65-57), shots on goal (34-32), high-danger chances (18-14) and hits (32-24). The Pens dominated the faceoff circle (67 percent) and held a slight advantage in scoring chances (30-29).
Domingue stopped 29 of 33 shots for an .879 save percentage. While not air-tight, Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin was one better, making 29 saves on 32 shots.
Speaking of goalies, Tristan Jarry continues to make solid progress on ice while recovering from his foot injury. Let’s hope and pray for a speedy return. The bloom is definitely off Domingue’s rose.
Following several strong games, the Malkin-Danton Heinen–Kasperi Kapanen line tanked to the tune of a 16.67 Corsi. Geno fared better between Guentzel and Rust (a collective Corsi of 60).
The series resumes Friday night at PPG Paints Arena for a pivotal Game 6.
Around the League
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View Comments
You gents are espousing wildly laughable, wholly inaccurate, rubbish...pure contrived, sore loser, totally immature, fake revisionist history (insofar as this series), and so far off base characterization of the Rangers style of hockey that if you wrote a satire piece using an accurate and honest depiction of the far too genteel attitude they play with you couldn't be more sincere than the sour grapes wah, wah, wah utter nonsense. Stop the bitchin boys
Hey Angst,
I'm not going to dignify your pile of crap comment with a response. Except to say I'll bet you had a totally different spin last season when Tom Wilson mopped up the ice with Pavel Buchnevich and Artemi Panarin.
What goes around comes around. Hope your Rangers are on the receiving end of some head shots in the coming series.
Rick
Yes, 30 years later and it’s deja vu all over again. I was in the Garden when Graves tried to chop Lemieux down like a tree. I was covering for a wire service. I ran into Craig Patrick down in the catacombs prior to the press conferences. He was practically in tears. Always gracious, he said “I’m sorry, I am so upset I don’t want to say anything just now.” I remember Neilson chirping to the postgame gaggle in the Ranger room “It’s great not to have to worry about Lemieux.” Ar least Graves was suspended. No NHL review of Trouba hit forthcoming. My one hope is that the inside scoop is that Sid is good to go tomorrow and that the NHL knows it so they can wimp out on intent - starting from elbow to Jake's head to start the game. Although Penguins reportedly just recalled Zohorna, so I’m neither confident that Sid OR Rakell are returning. We can hope that maybe Boyle is out for this one as an explanation. We lost IMO because no Sid meant more shifts for Boyle/Carter, who just get lost up ice and in the D-zone, despite heavy forecheck (Boyle) and faceoff skills and goalie screening (Carter) There were three hits to the head AT LEAST - guess all's fair. Yes Jim, I'd send Friedman out to chop down Panarin's knees when he makes his little change-of-pace pull-up looking for late comers. How about taking out him and Fox?? That would be jungle justice. Who cares if Friedman gets suspended?? They just get away with eliminating our best player?? Head hunt was the mandate from puck drop. Got to say Rick, comparing Sid’s indefatigable brilliance to that of a sled dog is so on point: best comp about him I’ve heard. And yes, Louie expiration date has arrived. He’s a trooper, and knows when and when not to freeze the puck. He communicates well with the boys back there and although his forays out of the net have put my heart in my throat, he’s helped us get out of dodge that way. Point blank he can step up that big target and make saves, but the glove, the feet post to post, he just doesn’t have those gifts. Worry too about Jarry pushing off the foot, since lateral movement has been his calling card. Hopefully he’s in there and adrenaline kicks in.
Hello John.
Sorry to be late in responding. Trying to keep up with the playoffs is keeping me hopping.
With your knowledge, eye for detail and well-thought comments and responses, I've wondered if you'd done some writing in the past. Which wire service did you write for? Feel free to share more about yourself.
Rick
Hey Rick,
You and I have written about this several times. In the playoffs all rules are relaxed and they let the players play. Hockey is the most physical of all the 4 professional sports. We are the only ones that allow fighting, with our fists, into the culture of the game.
Most hockey fans and especially in Canada and I would say most definitely Boston hold the belief that cheap shots are acceptable in playoff hockey. But when you have one team that refuses to muscle up and then expect the rest of the league to feel sorry for them when their star player gets injured… What should’ve happened was someone should’ve came off the Pens bench and gone over to one of the New York rangers stars and punched his lights out. Period.
Crosby is no saint and he engages in the physical areas of the ice and he too has been known to Agitate the opposition on the odd occasion. That’s the way we play the game up here and that’s the way he was coached as a kid.
I’m sorry that Sydney had to receive such a blow But that’s exactly what I told you what happen before this series started.
What are the penguins gonna do about it and game six? Nothing because they don’t have anyone to fight back with and that is the fault at the coach and management. OTR Has also written about this.
Now we’re all upset… We should’ve been upset three years ago.
It looks like we’re never going to learn that playoff hockey is violent hockey.
I still believe that the Pens can over come this And win, But we cannot take penalties in retaliation.
Scotty Bowman was right… Just play the game.
Cheers
Jim