James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
Whatever the opposite of "hospitality" happens to be, that's what the Rangers can expect when they take the ice tonight at Raleigh's PNC Arena.
HOSTILITY will be more like it.
Notorious for their "If We Can't Beat 'Em In The Alley" style of shinny, the Canes set that discordant tone while losing 4-3 in double OT at The Garden on Tuesday night.
Never to win a Good Housekeeping award, Andrei Svechnikov's not-so-subtle behind-the-net slew-foot on Igor Shesterkin is what we can expect more of tonight.
Shesty will be a target because he's the reason that New York is winning the series.
How the Rangers deal with what these days is called "Old-Time Hockey" will say a lot about how the rest of this tournament will evolve. With the home crowd behind them, expect the Canes to be at their nastiest.
Getting back to Iggy, on the slew foot, he did an excellent imitation of an old Dutch windmill. The acrobatics seemed to inspire the Ranger to play his best game of the season.
Then again, he also could have been injured and taken out of the game. Then what?
I'll tell you "what."
Peter Laviolette has to be prepping his Blueshirts to expect more Canes belligerence. Which means that the likes of Jacob Trouba, Barclay Goodrow and Will Cuylle may have to be peace keepers -- but only after going to war.
Likewise, Lavvy likely will not be able to employ his No. 1 bulldozer because Matt Rempe could very well be scratched tonight.
Right now, it's pointless to play Rempe if he's only good for five shifts, one hit, and 4:03 of ice time, as was the case in Game Two at The Garden.
Plus, after the double OT marathon, the New Yorkers could use a Rempe-less fourth line. Seasoned regulars Goodrow and Jimmy Vesey can take regular turns. An adequate third man could be either Jonny Brodzinski or Filip Chytil.
The other issue is all about attrition and its potential effect on Pistol Pete's "Murderer's Row."
OT hero Vincent Trocheck was the most-used Ranger at 35:21, closely followed by Adam Fox (33:26), Breadman Panarin (32:24), Mika Zibanejad (31:51), Chris Kreider (29:44) and K'Andre Miller (29:01).
A fourth line comprised of stick handlers who can do more than Rempe would provide both hard-checking while giving the stars more rest.
Meanwhile, Laviolette knows full well that he has challenges to address apart from who plays on the fourth line.
Please note that Trocheck's game-winner overshadowed many Manhattan minuses. They began with the Rangers "Welcome Mat" which enabled the Canes offense to penetrate New York acreage with consummate ease.
Carolina blitzed Shesty with far too many shots than acceptable.
But this goes back to Square One. Carolina finished only three points behind the Blueshirts, and they are a darn good team. And one that can't wait to hear a deafening Dixie crowd roar, not unlike The Garden's decibel count.
One other pivotal point: There is such a thing as the Law of Averages. When The Maven checked, and it indicated that few teams win seven playoff games in succession.
But as His Lordship Rempe might say, "Laws are made to be broken!