ESPN 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs Blog

Posted by Pierre LeBrun

NEW YORK -- Sunday's Game 6 between the Rangers and Capitals had a few altercations the NHL will no doubt take a look at.

1. Capitals tough guy Donald Brashear made contact with Rangers tough guy Colton Orr in the pregame warm-up. It wasn't much, but the league rules clearly stipulate there can't be any contact between opposing players in warm-ups.

2. Brashear leveled Rangers center Blair Betts with what appeared to be a late hit in the first period near center ice. It should have at least been an interference call since Betts didn't have the puck. The Rangers checker left the game and didn't return.

"I didn't see it at the time, I saw it on the replay. It was a late hit to the head and it was pretty vicious," said fill-in Rangers coach Jim Schoenfeld. "He's a big strong guy, as you all know, and [Betts] didn't see him coming, and he's hurt significantly.

"Obviously, we aren't gonna divulge the nature of the injury, but Bettsie was hurt significantly on the play, and the thing that's I guess a double-edged sword is that Brashear's the guy that was jostling with Orr in warm-up, and we've got people watching that and I know the rules ... it has to go through the process. But with that happening, it would have been nice to have him not in the game rather than allow him to play the game and eliminate one of our best players, and Bettsie has been one of our best players, especially on the penalty kill. So it was a late hit to the head, and the league will look at it and they'll make their own ruling."

As one might imagine, Caps coach Bruce Boudreau saw it differently.

"When we watched that between periods, to me that was a shoulder, a complete shoulder," said Boudreau. "I mean, he followed through, but the elbow didn't hit him. It was a good shoulder hit."

3. Schoenfeld said Rangers center Brandon Dubinsky required a tetanus shot. Why, you ask?

"Because he was bit on the arm in a scrum, I don't know what effect that will have on him, so his status remains in question," said Schoenfeld, who said Caps defenseman Shaone Morrisonn was the culprit. "[Dubinsky] was trying to show it to the linesman. Instead of looking, he gave him a 10-minute misconduct, so that's a double whammy for us with Betts out and now we've got Dubinsky out, so we were a little shy down the middle."

A coach suspended for throwing a water bottle at a fan, the Rangers waging a PR war with the league head office, a player getting bit ... it's been a wacky weekend, folks.

Here we go
Game 7. Is there anything better in sports?

"It's always fun to be play in our building, especially at that time," said Ovechkin. "The atmosphere is going to be unbelievable. They're going to push us the whole time. Right now, we have to forget this game. It's done. We're bouncing back. It's going to be a real war Tuesday."

Boudreau is a little apprehensive going into Tuesday.

"Obviously, I'm glad that we have that opportunity," he said. "I'm a little worried about it. I mean, [winning] three games [in a row] when you think about it is really a difficult task. I'm pretty sure we'll get their best. If anything, we might have learned last year. You think that after Game 6 in their building ... you can sometimes get overconfident.

"Philadelphia took it us last year and we were fortunate to force overtime before we lost. At least it's a good teacher. We know that nothing has been won yet at all."

Prolific Poti
Tom Poti has become more of a defensive defenseman in Washington, so his one goal and three assists Sunday were a surprise to say the least. Last time he had four points was in 2004, when he played for ...

"Probably when I was a Ranger, yeah," Poti said. "I think it was in this building, too."

The fans chanted "Poti sucks" in Game 3 here at the Garden. Nice to give it back to them, Tom?

"I could care less about any of that," he said. "I just wanted to get a win tonight and now we have more work to do."

In fact, with Mike Green and Milan Jurcina also scoring Sunday, it was the first time the Caps' defense corps combined to score three goals in a game since Dec. 8, 2007.

That first goal
The team that has scored the first goal has won the past five games in this series.

"I'm not sure why, but it just seems whoever gets the first one gets the momentum," said Caps blueliner Mike Green. "We make it our best effort to make sure we get that first goal. And when we do, we usually get some momentum and usually start playing a lot better right off the bat instead of just in the third period."

The Torts effect
The Rangers insisted not having John Tortorella behind the bench was not a factor in their defeat Sunday.

"I think in our room we were ready," said Rangers blueliner Marc Staal. "All those distractions before the game didn't really affect anything. We were focused and we were ready, but we didn't have the effort that we needed, that's for sure."

Getting defensive
The Caps have exploded for nine goals in two games. The Rangers must find a way to go back to whatever they were doing in Games 1-4.

"We knew they were a gifted offensive team and, the first two games anyway, we played well enough defensively to keep them to the outside," said Staal. "They were getting shots, but they weren't getting the quality shots that they're getting now. We have to get back to that and make sure when they are shooting, it is from the outside and easy stops for Hankie."

Caps let up late
The Caps took the foot off the pedal in the third period, getting outshot 11-2 as the Rangers scored a pair of goals to make the score more respectable.

"We just started to be a little bit lazy in the third period," said Ovechkin. "We took too many penalties. We can't play like that in the playoffs, especially in the playoffs. It doesn't matter what the score is, 4-1 or 5-1. We just can't play like that."