TORONTO – This is the way it used to be all the time in the old days, teams playing home-and-home matches that almost invariably elevated the passion level in the back end of the deal.
Which is where the Rangers and Maple Leafs were last night, finishing what they started on Sunday at the Garden, when Toronto prevailed 4-2 in a game that had its contentious – if not downright nasty – moments.
“There is no doubt that the league would be better off if we had more of these home-and-home series,” said the Rangers’ Bobby Holik, who, surprisingly, was not involved to any degree in Sunday’s extracurricular activities.
“To do that, there would have been more games within the division, maybe 10 instead of the [six] there are now. Everyone would benefit from that. The games would be contested at a higher level. It would be more fun for the players. And it definitely would create a better atmosphere for the fans. There would be more passion, more energy.
“The way it is now, it is too vanilla.”
The sanitization of the NHL has permeated every aspect of the league. On Sunday, responding to an earlier Owen Nolan elbow on Darius Kasparaitis, Matt Barnaby skated some 10 feet to challenge the Leaf winger to drop the gloves. For doing that, Barnaby was assessed an additional minor for roughing on top of the coincidental majors he and Nolan had earned, even though there had been no legitimate roughing, even though it had been a fair fight.
“I looked at the tape a number of times, and I do not agree with the call,” Barnaby said. “I was told by the officials that I got the extra penalty for dropping my gloves first. But someone drops his gloves first on every fight. I clearly did drop my gloves first, but I didn’t hit him. I waited for [Nolan] to drop his, so that it would be a fair fight and so I wouldn’t get an extra penalty for instigating.
“But I got the penalty anyway. If that’s the proper call, then there has to be an additional penalty on every fight.”
Even five years ago, Barnaby never would have been cited for his behavior. But the league is committed to doing away with anything that might look even the slightest bit untoward as it seeks to market the game to people who care nothing about it. The people who do care, the fans who do pay the price to attend the games, they’re still as turned on by fighting as any previous generation.
For example, there was no louder sound in the Panthers’ home rink last Wednesday than during the bout between Chris Simon and Grant McNeill in which the Ranger veteran scored a knockdown against the freshman pugilist with a left cross to the jaw.
“That’s hockey,” Simon said after the game.
Well, it was. Just the way home-and-homes used to be hockey, too.
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Jussi Markkanen, riding a 3-0-1 unbeaten streak during which he has fashioned a 1.22 goals-against average, was in nets last night for the Rangers. But Mike Dunham, who was very touchy on Sunday when asked about the Rangers’ goaltending rotation, had no issue yesterday morning with coach Glen Sather’s decision.
Anson Carter, who returned to the lineup after missing two games with a sore wrist, skated with center Mark Messier and left winger Barnaby while Simon moved to the left of a line with Jamie Lundmark in the middle and Jed Ortmeyer on the right. Richard Scott was scratched.