Rough, rough night for the Rangers well beyond their 3-0 loss to the Canadiens that brings their losing streak to a season-high three games.
Defenseman Ryan McDonagh suffered a concussion when his head was driven into the glass by the Canadiens’ Max Pacioretty at 7:20 of the second period. McDonagh did not return to the game and was not in the locker room. Tortorella opened his post-game presser by asking the media how high the reporters thought Pacioretty jumped. Getting no answer, Tortorella asked again, then adding, “Over/under?” He shot down a guess of six inches but offered no answer himself, no doubt wanting to stay clear of seeming to criticize the NHL or the officials. The league will certainly review Pacioretty’s boarding penalty, especially since he used his elbow and it came in prompt response to a McDonagh check against him along the side boards. But watching the replay myself, including in slow motion, I’m not convinced Pacioretty leaped off the ice. Perhaps his skates were a couple of inches up but it was more how he turned his body and got his elbow directly to McDonagh’s head that was disturbing.
Tortorella did not offer any word on the severity of the injury to McDonagh or to Dan Girardi. Girardi took P.K. Subban’s power-play slap shot off his right ankle with 1:23 remaining in the game and had to be helped directly off the ice. At 19:17, Travis Moen ran into Marty Biron and the goalie said after the game that he was hit in the head (Biron was allowed to talk to the media and said he felt fine, I don’t believe there’s any cause for concussion alarm here).



















