UPDATE.......DEREK STEPAN HAS A BROKEN JAW FROM BRANDON PRUST HIT THAT WASN'T EVEN CALLED A PENALTY!!HAVING SURGERY TODAY!!! Should now end Prust's season with injury with at least 10 game suspension and refs shouldn't be allowed to do any more games this offseason.
Montreal's Brandon Prust to have a PHONE HEARING with the league at 4pm on late hit to Rangers Derek Stepan upper body. This is his second offenseof this type, the last playoff offense being 2 years ago when he was with the Rangers against Devil Anton Volchenkov. Being a progressive penalty, it could be 2 games or more. But since it happened against the Rangers, expect just a fine. Dan Carcillo, it is being reported that it was labeled a level 2 offense against the official which brings a 10 game suspension and means that his career with the Rangers is probably over.
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The Rangers fell just a rebound off a chin in overtime from taking a commanding lead in the Eastern Conference Finals and are now in a battle with the Montreal Canadiens with a 2-1game lead going into Game #4 on Sunday at the World's Most Famous Arena. In a series that matches two teams that play a similar style which there is very little chance for mistakes, Game #3 was a game of goals scored from deflections and broken plays. For the Rangers, both goals were scored from Carl Hagelin and Chris Kreider standing at the creases blue paint and getting a bounce in their favor. The Montreal goals were scored from a puck off of a sliding Ryan McDonagh's leg, a broken play and missed assignment by Derek Stepan, and a puck off the chin for the game winner in overtime.
The Rangers played a solid game but still need to get to the front of the net on a regular basis and play the game they have for the last few weeks to get right back on track and go back to Montreal with a 3-1 lead which is a great place to be! The Rangers need to play the right way and not get sucked into a cheapshot style game like the Flyers and Penguins tried because the Rangers aren't built for that and usually lose that type of game. The Boys in BLUE just need to stay focused on the prize and play the "right way" while the Garden Faithful cheer them on towards that 3-1 lead. One bad bounce doesn't make a bad game, so let's play Rangers hockey on Sunday!! Leave it all out on the ice and it looks like the rest of this series could seriously be without the Rangers Dan Carcillo and the Canadiens Brandon Prust.
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I am clearly not agreeing with the way that Dan Carcillo handled the situation with the linesman but if you put yourself in his place, you can actually see why it happened. Carcillo had just hit an oppossing player that he felt gave a cheapshot and had injured his teammate. While Derek Dorsett was fighting the player he hit, he was just standing there watching. Then out of nowhere, the linesman grabs two handfuls of his jersey that anyone on the ice would have thought it was an oppossing player looking to fight as retribution for his hit on Prust who was already in a fight. As a player that plays on the edge, you have to respong quickly or give your opponenent the upper hand in a fight which you could get injured in. So did Carcillo try to loosen himself from the linesmans grip....surely. But the linesman was lucky he wasn't on the wrong end of a punch as an automatic responce to an aggressive grab of the jersey like fighters do. Not only should Carcillo be facing discipline, but that linesman shouldn't be allowed to be on the ice either. Refs/ linesmen are to make sure the rules are followed, not to be a factor in the game like they were last night. If this is the best refs and linesmen in the NHL, this league is in trouble! Hopefully this was just a horrible game by that group of 4 and they do a better job next game that will have huge implications on this series.
LET'S GO RANGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Looking for win #11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
