After a 6-2 win over Carolina in 7 games, the Rangers advanced to the Eastern Conference finals which showed the best of what they had to offer all season: a killer power play, strut two-way skating and everything – goal scorers. So why, after a few series highlighted by team effort and comparatively balanced scoring, the name Jacob Truber is on everyone’s lips, from applauding teammates to gritting the teeth of opposing coaches and tearing up hockey tweets? Simple enough: He’s blowing people away and driving people really crazy.
Adam Fox said Sunday night, “Looks like he can turn the tide for us when we need it.” “You’ve seen this last series, you’ve seen this series.”
Truba is missing from Sunday’s scoresheet as he has played in 11 of New York’s 14 playoff games, this time with a huge open-ice hit on Seth Jarvis. And again, in the 28-year-old defender’s “dirty clean” playoff blockbuster race, it happened right after the injury that made his danger so important.
The score at the time was 1-0, and apparently the injured Jarvis, fighting to get back on the bench, blew an anti-hurricane dasher and Carolina whistled for several men on the ice. Man-Advantage New York Transformed in Just 14 Seconds; Trouber was instrumental in doubling the Rangers’ lead, removing a front-line player from the game and calming down an exciting crowd for good. “Whenever you get the first goal, especially on the street, it helps. This crowd, when they enter it, they eat it, “Fox said.” It was more important to follow up with the second soon after. “
Jarvis left the game after being hit, which is a kind of duck-rabbit illusion so you can see what you want to see or what you are told to expect. Did Truba make contact with Jarvis’ head and / or was it the main point of contact? Was it the target, or did Trouber Jarvis have five inches above his head? Did Truba extend his elbow for the classic chicken-wing hit, or did he tie himself up neatly? Cane fans tend to answer this one way; Another fan of the Rangers. The only person whose opinion was important, though, said it was clear: it was not whistled and Truba could not be expected to receive a call from the player protection department.
In that last bit, it’s just like Trouber’s other big hits this post-season, all played in swing games, all of which were clean-ruled, and all of which have outraged opponents. Most notably, Trouber clashed with Sydney Crossby in the first round:
The Rangers were then on the verge, 2-0 in the game and 3-1 in the series. Crosby will leave with a suspicious injury (he will return to Game 7, but as his own shell), and will break the first of three goals in New York 2:42 just one minute later. They will no longer lose to Pittsburgh.
Max Domi’s Trouber Blast came early in Game 4 of the Hurricanes series, at a time when both excitement and emotion were high. A scram at the end of the previous game led to complaints and on-screen threats and it seemed like each team was waiting for the other to start something. Everyone assumed that for the Rangers it meant Ryan Reeves. No. Truba.
Carolina’s Steven Lorentz went behind Trouber, dropped his gloves, and earned himself a provocative penalty that the Rangers would start scoring. They will not look back, game 4 will tie the series in the palm of the hand. “It was a big hit and obviously it changed the course of the game a bit,” said Andrew Cope. Cannes coach Rod Brind’amore agrees: “There just can’t take a penalty. We gave them a power play there and it went away with them. “
Trouber had a role for the Rangers in this post season: thwarting opponents’ plans and provoking them. It’s a valuable role, considering more than that he’s not doing much else. He’s only got one play-off point more than goalkeeper Igor Shestarkin, and if you want to see how the Truba-K’Andre Miller duo is playing (or not), you have to scroll down. A second-pair man is not exactly what the Rangers expected or expected when they traded for the Blueliner as one of the first big steps in their rebuild and gave him a shockingly big deal, but this part was at least speculated: he’s a big boy. Big hit.
And count for some of the injuries. Not just the ones shown above, but any one of Trouba’s Team-High 54 hits this post season. Trauma hits — especially from a guy listed at 6-foot-3, 209, and wraps in armor and moves fast — but they get into your brain. You begin to see ghosts; You quickly get rid of a fraction twist. You extend your hand instead of making drama. You I think so When you think about it, bad things happen.
“There were probably one or two big ones that everyone could see.” Fox said, “But there are many more that fall under the boys. I don’t think anyone likes to get hurt. Especially by someone like him. “
But the line between a good hit and a bad one is a matter of thin, potentially inches or milliseconds. Truba led the Rangers in the playoff penalty minutes, as he did in the regular season, not the slightest. Any play there could whistle (Wes McCauley was a referee for all three, which may or may not mean something), and it didn’t take much for them to be subtle or suspensible. . Yet and only recently, Truba remains on the right side of the laser, even making him the No. 1 enemy on the wrong side of his hits.