A punch line
Simmonds incident has McDonagh uncertain, Rangers scrambling
It is unknown whether Ryan McDonagh will be in the lineup against the Devils at the Garden on Monday in the aftermath of the sucker punch to the jaw he took from Wayne Simmonds at 10:36 of the first period of the Blueshirts’ shootout victory in Philadelphia on Saturday, but we do know the perpetrator was free to play for his team Sunday afternoon in Washington.
That’s crime and injustice in the NHL, where the league not only eschewed issuing supplementary discipline to the Philadelphia winger for the sucker punch, but also passed on applying Rule 40.4 that calls for an automatic suspension to any player who throws his stick toward an official, which Simmonds did after he was given a match penalty by the Kelly SutherlandDave Lewis tandem.
Indeed, Simmonds broke his stick in front of his own bench and then fired it across the ice in the direction of the referees as they stood in front of the officials’ box on the opposite side of the rink.
Rule 40.4, which is under the “physical abuse of official” umbrella, states: “Any player who, by his actions, physically demeans an official or physically threatens an official by (but not limited to) throwing a stick or any other piece of equipment or object at or in the general direction of an official … shall be suspended for not less than three (3) games.”
The Rangers did not issue an update on McDonagh, so it is not known whether the captain was suffering symptoms on Sunday or indeed had suffered a concussion from the glovedleft hand blow to the right side of the jaw that sent him to the ice facedown before he went to the locker room.
McDonagh underwent a medical evaluation from the Flyers’ physician on hand and remained in the room for the remainder of the Blueshirts’ 32 shootout victory before accompanying the team on its train ride back to Penn Station.
The Rangers are carrying seven defensemen, but four are righties, none capable of switching to Mc Donagh’s left side. Thus, if No. 27 cannot play, the Blueshirts will make a recall from the AHL Wolf Pack.
Saturday’s incident began with McDonagh crosschecking Simmonds on the side of the helmet to ward off a check. The men spun to confront each other and sparred momentarily before Simmonds popped the defenseman while his arms were down.
With or without McDonagh, the Rangers on Monday will seek to achieve their first threegame winning streak in 11 weeks, since putting the finishing touch on a ninegame streak by defeating the Maple Leafs on Nov. 15.
The Blueshirts are 841 over their past 13 games but have not played many complete games through that stretch. They will have to be much better than they were Tuesday in New Jersey in a 32 defeat in which they were outworked by the relentless Devils.
Indeed, the Blueshirts played an inferior brand of hockey through much of Saturday’s first 40 minutes, outshot 194 through 14:00plus of the second period, before ramping it up in the third once the Flyers decided to sit back after taking a 21 lead at 5:46 of the third.
Coach Alain Vigneault shuffled his lines in the third, moving Kevin Hayes onto the wing for the first time since Dec. 9, onto a unit with Derek Stepan and J.T. Miller. The Rangers swept through the neutral zone with ease, attacking and forechecking throughout the period, holding the Flyers without a shot for the final 14:14 of regulation (plus the 5:00 overtime).
“But they had a couple go wide,” said a grinning Henrik Lundqvist. “Maybe I even forced them to go wide.”
(The King surely did force Sam Gagner wide on the first shootout attempt before making a save against Claude Giroux.)
The Blueshirts ultimately tied it with 12.9 seconds remaining on an extraattacker blast by Keith Yandle, who will inherit many of McDonagh’s minutes if the captain — who has dramatically elevated his game the past three weeks — is sidelined.
The Flyers, meanwhile, did not have to concern themselves with filling in for Simmonds.