THE BOYS ARE BACK
McDonagh, Girardi, Miller return as Tampa rips Rangers
Hundreds of times these venerable defensemen entered the Garden, made their way toward the Rangers’ dressing room and prepared to sacrifice their bodies. On Friday, they returned and needed assistance finding the visitors’ room.
“Walking in here, I really didn’t know where to go to be honest with you,” Dan Girardi said. “I really was trying to figure out my way in the dressing room just now. It really is a weird feeling.”
In what was the Rangers’ final home game of the season, longtime pair Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh, along with J.T. Miller, made their first return to the Garden with the Lightning since departing New York, a poetic end to the home slate for the rebuilding Rangers as they say goodbye to their past. Miller had a goal and assist and Girardi scored in the Rangers’ 7-3 loss.
The trio started Friday for Tampa, were on the ice right before puck drop when a video tribute played featuring some of each player’s signature moments as a Ranger and saluted the crowd when it gave them an ovation once it ended.
They’re chasing the Stanley Cup now with Tampa Bay alongside ex-Rangers Anton Stralman and Ryan Callahan, who preceded McDonagh as Rangers captain. First they had to experience the gamut of emotions that come with this return — in particular Girardi and McDonagh, who served as the Rangers’ top pair for so long and are paired again.
“It was pretty surreal,” McDonagh said of his first Lightning shift with Girardi. “Not even a year ago, but it feels a lot longer obviously with the new season and everything that’s been going on with the team. It felt like old times, not to put it in that fashion. But it was great, great to be on the ice with him again and continue to do the same things we did for those years here in New York.”
McDonagh saw returning relatively soon after the Feb. 26 blockbuster trade as a positive. Different for Girardi, who was bought out last summer and had to wait all season.
“(Girardi) said as soon as the trade went down that we could’ve ruined his tribute day back here at MSG,” McDonagh said. “But it’s been fun knowing for the both of us, and J.T. as well, that we’re all kind of going through this together.”
The two defensemen went to Starbucks, walked to the arena and were greeted by Rangers fans who thanked them for what they did as members of the Blueshirts. They would leave the building later hoping to achieve with the Lightning what they could not as Rangers despite deep playoff runs.
But will they have moved on?
“That’s hard. It’s hard to say when you finally move on, I guess,” McDonagh said. “You ask anybody about me, I care so much about the guys that I’m in the room with. I think most importantly I want the guys on my team in Tampa to know that I’m all in with them and I’m for sure gonna give it my all every game.”
THANKS, HANK
Henrik Lundqvist was voted by fans as the winner of this year’s Steven McDonald Extra Effort award, given annually to the player “who goes above and beyond the normal call of duty.” ... … Filip Chytil scored his first NHL goal.