Just another series.
Just another game.
Sure. OK.
Believe that at the risk of your own gullibility.
Vincent Trocheck, entering this Stanley Cup second-round playoff series against the Hurricanes, did his best to deflect the expected attention coming his way for playing against his former team in the second round of these Stanley Cup playoffs.
Trocheck, the Rangers’ 30-year-old center who played three seasons in Carolina before signing with the Rangers as a free agent before last season, delivered a vintage Trocheck game in Sunday’s 4-3 win over the Hurricanes in Game 1 at the Garden in that he was all over the ice and did everything — a true 200-foot player.
Trocheck’s biggest moment of the afternoon in front of a lit Garden crowd came when he gave the Rangers a 3-1 lead with 3:32 remaining in the first period.
He dished a pass to Mika Zibanejad (who scored the first two goals of the game for the Rangers) and Zibanejad’s shot on Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen was saved. Trocheck was there in front for the rebound and he buried it into the right side of the netting.
It was a power-play goal that came a mere 14 seconds after Evgeny Kuznetzov was sent off for cross-checking Rangers defenseman Adam Fox in the face to the side of the Rangers’ net.
Trocheck’s rapid payback for Kuznetsov’s lack of discipline was his fourth goal in five playoff games this spring.
Scoring, however, was only one piece of Trocheck’s effect on this game.
As Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said of Trocheck in the days leading up to the first-round playoff series against Washington: “You’re talking about a player who touches every part of our game. Faceoffs, offense, defense, power play, penalty kill, six-on-five, five-on-six.
“He plays high minutes. He has been reliable. He is part of one of the top lines in the league with regards to producing offense. He is someone that we count on, that I count on and rely on.”
With the Hurricanes having tied the game at 1-1 just 1:02 after the Rangers took a 1-0 lead on Zibanejad’s first goal, it was Trocheck assisting on Zibanejad’s second goal, this one with 9:55 remaining in the first period.
Trocheck fed Chris Kreider in front of Anderson and Kreider delivered a no-look back pass to Zibanejad for the one-timer goal over Anderson’s right shoulder.
That production gave Trocheck four goals and four assists — eight points in five playoff games.
Trocheck, too, was a force on the Rangers’ penalty kill, helping them stave off four Carolina power-play chances, which is saying something considering the Hurricanes own one of the top-producing power plays in the NHL.
Trocheck got a tricky shot off on Anderson with 3:44 remaining in the second period with the Hurricanes on a power play. He, too, was there with a big blocked shot on Carolina’s Jordan Staal with the teams at even strength moments before.
As Laviolette said so eloquently, touching every part of the Rangers’ game in a super-pivotal opening game of the series.
Trocheck, too, was on the ice for Artemi Panarin’s third-period goal that gave them some breathing room after Carolina had tightened matters with a second goal early in the third period.
Rangers, when scoring four or more goals, were 38-0-1 this season entering the game. Make that 39-0-1.
Trocheck was brilliant in his consistency and efficiency in the opening-round series win over the Capitals, scoring three goals and dishing out three assists and winning a whopping 71.2 percent of his faceoffs.
Game 1 of the Carolina series was a chance for him to validate his terrific performance against Washington, and he did better than that.
“I want to be touching every part of the game and I want to be sure I’m helping our team win,” Trocheck said recently. “To do that, sometimes you have to be involved in different aspects of the game — PK, five-on-six, some of the grittier things. I want to be out there in those situations.”
He is, and that’s a big reason the Rangers are now 5-0 in these playoffs.
“It’s just another series,” Trocheck said during the week leading up to Game 1.
It didn’t look like that when he was led off the ice by the referees at the end of the first period, chirping with several Hurricanes players, including former Ranger Tony DeAngelo, now booed every time he touches the puck.
Just another game? Sure.