Monday night marked the 15th game of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs for the New York Rangers, and if you consider a triple-overtime win over the Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference semifinals, Monday's game against the New Jersey Devils could have even been the 16th.
Don't talk to Rangers head coach John Tortorella about fatigue, though. The veteran bench boss has shut down any and all attempts to discuss his team's fatigue at this point in the season, most recently after his team's 3-0 win over the rival Devils on Monday night at Madison Square Garden.
"I don't know where you guys get all this stuff about being tired," Tortorella said after his team took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference final. "If we're tired this time of the year, there's something the matter. We still have a month to play. You might as well not even ask me questions about being tired.
"We're not a tired hockey club. We are ready to play. You guys get the figures of the seven games and you don't win a Stanley Cup and all that...this club will be ready to play."
The figure Tortorella referred to is the fact that no team has ever won the Stanley Cup after playing full seven-game series in the first two rounds of the playoffs, a fact that reporters mentioned to him in advance of Monday's game. However, that seemed of little concern to Tortorella and his players, who were at their strongest in the third period.
"There's no excuse to be tired and that doesn't matter to us," said defenseman Dan Girardi, whose goal 53 seconds into the third period proved to be the game-winner. "They came out hard and were fresh and I thought we did a good job trying to match their intensity. I thought we had a good third period and got the job done."
If anyone would have cause to complain about fatigue, it would be Girardi. Named the NHL's best shot-blocker in a special issue of The Hockey News last fall, Girardi has averaged 27:39 in ice time per game during the playoffs, the most of any player still competing (his defense partner, Ryan McDonagh, ranks second with 27:27). However, Girardi was the man who broke the scoreless tie and later helped set up Chris Kreider's insurance goal, continuing a trend of Rangers defensemen being major contributors in the offense . Of the nine games the Rangers have won this season, four have seen a defenseman score the game-winning goal, including two by Girardi.
"Dan has made some really big plays," Tortorella said. "Not just getting on the scoreboard, but big plays offensively right on through the playoffs here."
With the minutes that Girardi, McDonagh and Marc Staal play, that will have to continue. Luckily for them, the Rangers show few signs of slowing down.
