When the Rangers took the ice yesterday for their morning skate at the Garden, there was one player alone on the other bench: Alex Ovechkin.
The Capitals’ star sat and watched the Rangers practice for several minutes until he was told to leave by the Blueshirts.
Afterward, Ovechkin was asked why he chose to come out and observe his opponents.
“Just to [tick] Tortorella off,” Ovechkin said of Rangers head coach John Tortorella.
And why did he think the Rangers told him he couldn’t?
“Because they’re afraid of me,” he said with a smile.
Tortorella claimed he never saw Ovechkin.
“Who?” Tortorella said when asked about the incident. “Oh, God, this is the first I’ve heard of it. Ask me a question about the game, not that [expletive].”
Ovechkin seemed amused by the situation following the Capitals’ skate, but after he was told to move, he stood, looked out at the Rangers and shook his head.
His coach, Bruce Boudreau, didn’t think it was a big deal.
“I think it was more him not knowing the rules is all,” Boudreau said. “They asked him to leave, he left.” Boudreau’s primary concern, of course, was getting his team to finally win a game in the series. And Ovechkin’s whereabouts during a morning skate probably won’t play much of a role.
The coach’s instructions were simple: “Just play better.
“There’s no tricks right now. You have to do more in the playoffs to succeed. New York has ramped it up pretty good.”
Maybe that’s what Ovechkin wanted to see during his brief trip near the ice yesterday morning. Regardless, Boudreau didn’t think there was any underlying meaning in what his best goal-scorer had done.
“He just went out there,” Boudreau said. “I don’t think he had a pen and paper and writing down line combinations, but I can understand.
“I’ve gotten into the same arguments with different people when I want privacy in my practice. As long as he’s out there at 7 o’clock, we’re fine.”
