Rangers threaten revenge after loss
By CHUCK GORMLEY
Courier-Post Staff
New York Rangers forward Vinny Prospal called it "gutless."
His teammate, goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, called it "disrespectful" and warned about retribution.
Rangers coach John Tortorella said there was "no honor" in it and called it "embarrassing" to the sport of hockey.
With the sting of Thursday night's 2-0 loss still fresh in their minds, the Rangers spent most of their postgame interviews lambasting Flyers winger Dan Carcillo for dropping his gloves against their star winger, Marian Gaborik, and beating him to a pulp.
"He doesn't look that smart to me," Lundqvist said, "and he showed it tonight."
Lundqvist didn't stop there, saying Carcillo should be ready when the two teams play March 14 in New York.
"We will remember this for sure," he said. "and he should be ready for it."
James van Riemsdyk scored his 12th goal of the season, Mike Richards netted his 20th and Ray Emery recorded his second shutout of the season, with 24 saves, but when the sticks were put away and the skates were hung, no one wanted to talk about anything but Carcillo's second-period fight with Gaborik.
First some history: Carcillo entered the game with 57 career fights in the NHL. Gaborik had just one, a 2004 bout with Flyers tough guy Ian Laperriere.
When the two exchanged shoves 5:43 into the second period, and Gaborik dropped his gloves, Carcillo's mouth dropped like a dog's at feeding time.
"I wasn't expecting him to drop his gloves," Carcillo said, "but when he did, I was pretty much licking my chops."
"Wonderful," Tortorella said, when Carcillo's comments were relayed to him. "He's a brave guy, huh?"
Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger seemed amused by the war of words coming from the Rangers coach and his players.
"Don't start something if you're not going to get involved," Pronger said. "All (Gaborik) had to do was skate away. He started it. He didn't have to drop the gloves, and he did."
Lost in the verbal battle between the two teams was one of the best jobs of defensive execution displayed by the Flyers all season. The Rangers came into the game having outscored their previous two opponents 14-4.
The Flyers' two-man forecheck and left wing lock bottled up the Rangers in their own end and in the neutral zone, limiting them to 24 shots.
Van Riemsdyk got the Flyers going 15:10 into the first period when he took a lonnggg outlet pass from Pronger and used a burst of speed to get in alone on Lundqvist. Van Riemsdyk flubbed his shot but alertly jabbed in the rebound for his fifth goal in eight games.
The score stayed 1-0 until the second period, when all the fireworks took place. After Carcillo fought Gaborik, Sean Avery took on Scott Hartnell and was pile-driven to the ice. Avery came back for more against Carcillo, who refrained from throwing many punches because his knuckles were still bloodied from the fight with Gaborik.
Tortorella was asked after the game if he thought one of his players should have stepped between Gaborik and Carcillo.
"That's between me and the team," he shot back. "That's been addressed."
hahahahahaha so Gaborik starts it and Carcillo gets blasted for it? Hilarious