Well said by O'Connor: The shot that rose above Tokarski’s left shoulder and into the net. The shot that gave the Rangers a 3-1 lead and a near-certain ticket back to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1994. The Canadiens aren’t recovering from St. Louis’ goal, not after turning this Original Six smackdown into a professional wrestling show in an attempt to unnerve the superior team. If the desperate act was unbecoming such a storied franchise, hey, it almost worked. Vince McMahon couldn’t have scripted the leadup to this Game 4 any better, as the Canadiens and Rangers did everything but attack each other with folding chairs and splatter themselves with fake blood. It all started in Game 1, of course, after Chris Kreider knocked Carey Price into the net and out of the series, starting a debate on intent that created a tense and angry vibe. Soon enough Brandon Prust was taking this series to Defcon 1 by breaking Derek Stepan's jaw with an absurdly late hit in Game 3, and one that earned him an equally absurd two-game ban (Prust deserved half the 10 games Daniel Carcillo got for getting ugly with a linesman). In the days before Game 4, Michel Therrien ordered some Rangers assistants to get out of his Garden practice, citing some gentleman’s agreement unknown to the home team, and also sounded like a mob boss when discussing the return of Derick Brassard, who had been out with an unspecified “upper body” issue. “We expect Derick Brassard to play, and we know exactly where he’s injured,” Therrien said cryptically. “Hockey is a small world.” Alain Vigneault was angry that his assistants were booted from their Garden seats during the Canadiens’ practice, and angry that Montreal’s coach had seemingly slapped a bull’s eye on one of his players. In the event something happened to Brassard, Vigneault said, “Michel could be in trouble.” The Canadiens kept poking their sticks into the Rangers’ ribs, even doubting the severity of Stepan’s injury. If they stayed around New York long enough, they surely would’ve called into question the authenticity of Mark Messier’s guarantee on its 20th birthday.
