Bolts showing that they're prepared for a very rough playoff series against the Leafs
In what was a scrappy, heated atmosphere in New York last night, the Rangers and Lightning gave us a preview of what playoff hockey is all about. The two teams combined for 70 penalty minutes and 4 fights, with a handful of other post-whistle scrums. It all began near the end of the first period when Pat Maroon and Ben Harpur dropped the gloves in the first spirited tilt with the Rangers up 3-1. The two traded shots before Harpur caught Maroon and buckled him.
With the Rangers up 4-2, just past the halfway point of the second period, Anthony Cirelli appeared to score on a breakaway, but there was a late whistle as the official was not close enough to the net to see if the puck crossed the line or not. A second or two after the whistle, Alex Killorn flew in from the blueline and essentially speared Igor Shesterkin into the net and chaos ensued with everyone on the ice grabbing someone. Ryan Lindgren was absolutely livid and after mugging Killorn, went after Cirelli and began feeding him punches while he was on the ice.
A few minutes later, Corey Perry and Vincent Trocheck decided to drop the gloves which ended up not being a very spirited affair with Perry only landing a couple of shots before wrestling Trocheck to the ice. Minutes after that, Rangers defenseman Braden Schneider threw a massive, clean, open-ice hit on Nick Paul has he tried to enter the Rangers' zone. Then one of the dumbest things in hockey happened, as Ross Colton jumped Schneider following the clean hit and the two traded punches briefly. I still don't understand the point of having to fight after a clean hit, but at least officials were smart enough to hand Colton a game misconduct and 2 minute instigator penalty for it.
The third period was much calmer than the first two, until after the final buzzer went, when Perry and Harpur exchanged words before dropping the gloves for the second time each in the game. Harpur showed Perry that it was a bad idea to engage as he dropped him after a pair a punches.
If this game was any indication of what Tampa is willing to do in the playoffs, the Leafs better be prepared to battle in the trenches for an entire seven games.
| POLL | ||
6 AVRIL | 152 ANSWERS Bolts showing that they're prepared for a very rough playoff series against the Leafs How do you feel about this Leafs team in a physical, knockdown, drag-out 7-game series against Tampa? | ||
| I feel good about our chances | 90 | 59.2 % |
| No sweat! The Leafs will win! | 13 | 8.6 % |
| I'm a little concerned | 29 | 19.1 % |
| We're doomed | 20 | 13.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
