ARLINGTON, Va./NEW YORK -- The NHL suspended Rangers coach John Tortorella for one game for his altercation with a Capitals fan during Friday's Game 5. He will miss Sunday's Game 6 at Madison Square Garden.
Tortorella refused to discuss details of the incident after Friday's game, but the league said its investigation revealed Tortorella "squirted a fan with water before Mr. Tortorella was doused with a beverage."
I am surprised at the suspension at this point in the playoffs. I thought the league would hand Tortorella a steep fine, but not keep the coach out of the game. It's a ballsy move by the league, which is apparently trying to send a tough message to its players and coaches about crossing that fine line when emotions run high in the postseason.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman declined to comment when we e-mailed him late Saturday night. Still no word on who will lead the Rangers' bench in Torts' absence, but I believe interim assistant coach Jim Schoenfeld, who is also the team's assistant GM, will likely take the lead Sunday. (Ironic that the man behind the infamous "doughnut" incident will be potentially coaching for a suspended coach!)
And since the team's AHL affiliate in Hartford was eliminated from its playoff series this weekend, Wolfpack head coach Ken Gernander and assistant J.J. Daigneault could be on hand as assistants.
Will Avery return?
Before the league suspended him for Game 6, Tortorella wouldn't officially tell reporters earlier in the day whether Sean Avery would return to the Rangers' lineup Sunday.
Said Tortorella: "When I get the lineup situated [Sunday], that's when you guys will find out about it."
Avery was benched for Friday's Game 5 after he took two penalties in the third period of Wednesday's Game 4 that very much could have cost the Rangers the game. Overall, he has seven minor penalties in the series.
The Lundqvist factor
The Washington Capitals have outshot the New York Rangers 170-119 and outscored them 12-7, but they face elimination again Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.
"It's kind of weird," Caps star center Nicklas Backstrom said Saturday. "Yeah, I don't know what to say, it's just weird."
Is it as simple as saying the only reason is Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist?
"Yeah, and they know that, too," Caps superstar Alex Ovechkin said after Saturday's practice. "If Lundqvist doesn't play well, they're in big trouble. It's probably 90 percent of their team is Lundqvist right now."
Lundqvist was unconscious through four games of the series before slipping a little Friday night, the second goal to Matt Bradley a softie he should have never let in.
"I think he still played great last night," Ovechkin said of Lundqvist, who allowed four goals on 14 shots before being pulled. "He made one mistake when Bradley scored the second goal. But other than that, the other three goals were pretty cool. We have to just do the same job. We need to get pucks in on him, make some traffic and make some rebounds."
Still, it gave the Caps confidence to see Lundqvist pulled after the second period, even if they know he'll bounce back Sunday.
"We saw that Lundqvist is just a human being, so that's good," said Backstrom.
Said Lundqvist: "I feel a lot fresher today than I did after the last home game. That was an intense game. I had the last period off and I know what I have to do. I have to play my best. I know that. It's no secret. As a team we have to play our best if we want to beat this team. Washington is good.
"The past doesn't matter. It's about showing up tomorrow and performing. Let's regroup here and get ready for another war."
Either way, the Caps' season could end Sunday, and that leaves no room for error.
"Well, we're now a desperate team," said Ovechkin. "We're losing. We don't have lots of opportunities to make some mistakes. You have to be all the time great. You have to be all the time 100 percent. We're still losing, and tomorrow is probably the biggest game in our year."
That first goal
The team that has scored first in the last four games of this series has gone on to win, and that's no coincidence.
"They're a totally different team when they score first," Caps blueliner Brian Pothier said of the Rangers. "I think what they do is, they take all five guys and contract and they really limit us to perimeter shots. They don't have to make really any attempt to push for that goal because they have the lead.
"But when we get the lead first, they're doing a lot more; they have to stretch, they have to push, they have to try and create some opportunities, and that opens up their fortress a little bit. So it's huge [scoring first], especially against that team. It's a big obstacle to overcome if you led them score first."
Ovechkin also agreed with the first-goal premise and the stats back it up. This season, the Caps were 34-8-3 (.756 winning percentage) when scoring first; the Rangers were 28-9-5 (.667 winning percentage). That becomes even more paramount in the playoffs, when goals are harder to come by.
"When we score the first goal, we realize we can score more," said Ovechkin. "It's hard to come back when you're down 2-0 or 1-0, especially in the playoffs. Everybody has to realize that if you score first, you're in good shape."
The opening 20 minutes at a rocking MSG on Sunday afternoon will be key. Just like it was Friday night at Verizon Center, when the Caps, led by Bradley, Brooks Laich and Dave Steckel, came out flying and took the body on the Rangers.
"[Friday] night was great," said Pothier, who has been excellent for the Caps in this series. "Our starting five did a great job of getting the puck in and just saying, 'This is going to be a long night. We're going to work.' It set the pace for the game.
"It's going to be absolutely paramount [Sunday)]. Because in that rink, if they come out flying, which they will, and get the crowd into it and get their momentum, we're going to have to give them counter-punch off the start to get things settled down and get into the game. Because they will be flying early."
Ovechkin downplayed any momentum the Caps may be carrying into Sunday. His team is the one facing elimination, he said, not the Rangers.
"It's not momentum, it's only one game, and it was last night," said No. 8. "Right now, we're sitting here and thinking about tomorrow's game. We can't talk all the time about how we beat them last night. It's history."
Nyet on day games
Don't count Ovechkin as a big fan of day games. Sunday's Game 6 is at 2 p.m. ET.
"I don't like to play afternoon games," he said. "I feel kind of sleepy. You don't have lots of time to wake up and do what you normally do before games at 7 p.m. It's TV, it's money for the league."
New line
The line of Laich, Steckel and Bradley had a huge game Friday night as Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau shuffled the deck again up front.
"We've played together before at times during the season and I've played with Brads for four years, so I know what he's all about," said Laich. "He steps up on our penalty kill and gets a huge goal and gets the guys going. The second goal, I know we're not going to go east-west much at the blue line, so I just chipped it in. It was kind of a fluky goal. We know [Lundqvist] going to stop that 99 times out of 100, but if you hustle in, shoot the puck at the net, good things are going to happen. Brads really got our team going last night."
Check out what NHL writers Scott Burnside, E.J. Hradek and Pierre LeBrun and other members of ESPN.com's team have to say as they cover the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs. They'll be checking in from various sites all the way through the Cup finals.
ESPN.com Stanley Cup playoffs blog
