St. Louis to man Rangers top line in Game 1
39-year-old was non-factor in Penguins series
• Martin St. Louis wanted to say he had grown wiser with age, more patient. That having a head full of salt-and-pepper hair has allowed the 39-year-old veteran to put into perspective what he might not have been able to as a rookie in the NHL. Truthfully, it hasn’t. St. Louis has won two scoring titles, a Hart Trophy and a Stanley Cup. He helped Canada win a gold medal at last year’s Olympics and has scored 84 points in 93 career playoff games. But his lack of production in the New York Rangers’ five-game dismantling of the Pittsburgh Penguins, in which he managed no goals and just one assist in the first round of the playoffs, ate at St. Louis in ways that you cannot imagine.
“Of course that would bother me 10 years ago,” St. Louis said. “Of course it does (now). Does it bother me in a way that I’m frustrated? No. It bothers me in a way that I know I can be better. I mean, you always want to do better. You always do. If you don’t, you wouldn’t be around.
“I don’t think I’ve ever not thought like that. This year has been a little bit more of a challenge for me being productive, but I know it’s in me.”
The Rangers also believe St. Louis can be productive again. That is why, with Mats Zuccarello injured, St. Louis is being promoted to the top line to join Rick Nash and Derick Brassard for Game 1 against the Washington Capitals on Thursday.
It is a role that St. Louis has played his entire career. And yet, in year where his ice time has been cut by about four minutes a game from his time in Tampa Bay last season, it is a role that he has moved away from this season.
Though he finished with 21 goals (second only to Rick Nash’s 42) and ranked fourth on the team with 52 points in 74 games, St. Louis’ point per game average was his lowest since 2001-02. It is becom- ing harder for him to use his speed get open looks, to unleash that one-timer that helped him score 41 post-season goals.
Part of it is a lack of ice time — “The pace of the game is so fast right now that it’s tough to play the 22 minutes that I probably used to play,” said St. Louis — and opportunity, having been put on the third line with Carl Hagelin and Kevin Hayes. But the bigger reason might be that St. Louis is fewer than two months away from his 40th birthday and starting to show his age in more ways than the grey in his hair.
But it’s dangerous yet to write off the 5-foot-8 winger who thrives on adversity after being passed up in the NHL draft and counted out throughout his professional life.
“Marty’s Marty. He’s a Hall of Fame player and arguably the smartest player that’s played in this league,” said Rangers defenceman Dan Boyle, who won a Stanley Cup with St. Louis as a member of the Lightning in 2004. “He’s a guy you can count on to show up.”
The Rangers, who averaged the second-fewest goals per game out of the teams that have advanced into the second round, certainly hope that is true. With Zuccarello out indefinitely with a suspected concussion suffered in the first round, they could use all the offensive help they can get.
“If we want to go from eight (teams) to four and take care of Washington, obviously all of our guys need to be better,” Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault said. “And Marty’s one of those guys.”
St. Louis is a pending unrestricted free agent, and the extended playoff run is a chance to either secure a new deal or finish his impressive NHL career on a high note. It is a chance, he said, to create more memories.
“You play for them,” St. Louis said of the playoffs. “As you get older in this league, these are the opportunities that you remember … I’ve always felt I’ve earned everything I’ve got. I’m trying to do the same now.”