This was an unscripted moment of frustration for a player who almost never complains.
“What am I supposed to do?” Rick Nash asked after he took an unpenalized punch to the face from Alex Petrovic at 16:30 of the third period in the Rangers’ 4-3 shootout loss to the Panthers on Friday night at the Garden. “Sell it?”
In a league that has become defined by inconsistent officiating, the punch that Nash took was an extreme example of a missed call. It was left for his teammate, J.T. Miller, to get into Petrovic’s face and draw coinciding roughing minors for what likely should have been a Rangers power play in a game that was tied, 3-3.
“There’s no doubt that in my mind that a player like Rick Nash, with his presence and what he’s done, should be — I don’t want to say getting the benefit of the doubt — but he took a punch right to the face,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “You’d expect a player with that stature to get the benefit of the doubt.”
Of course, that was prefaced by Vigneault saying: “You have to fight through that and play through that. There’s a lot of stuff that’s going on on the ice.”
Pavel Buchnevich was a healthy scratch, but Vigneault stressed the rookie winger was not going back to the minors and was going to play for the Rangers down the stretch.
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“He’s not playing [Friday] night, but he is going to play,” Vigneault said of the 21-year-old Russian. “He’s had some good games lately, just that little inconsistency with a few plays that he needs to be a little bit better. But he is going to play, there’s a lot of hockey left and we have a lot of faith in his skill level and the way he can play.”
Buchnevich had two goals and one assist in the seven previous games since returning from a short stint with AHL Hartford.
Vigneault was noncommittal, but did leave open a chance that goalie Magnus Hellberg could get his first NHL start before franchise bedrock Henrik Lundqvist returns from his hip injury.
“At some point, logic would say [Hellberg] should get a game,” Vigneault said, “depending on how quick Hank comes back.”
Lundqvist is seemingly ahead of schedule and might be ready before his original hopeful return, the three-game California trip starting March 25 in Los Angeles. When Vigneault was asked if Hellberg, the 6-foot-6, 25-year-old Swede, was ready to make his big-league first start, he punted.
“Tough to say, I’ve just seen him in practice,” Vigneault said.
Jesper Fast returned to the lineup after missing the previous seven games with a shoulder injury. He played on a line with Michael Grabner and Kevin Hayes.
Tanner Glass stayed in the lineup on the fourth line with Oscar Lindberg and Jimmy Vesey. Joining Buchnevich as the scratches up front were Brandon Pirri and Matt Puempel. Defenseman Adam Clendening also was scratched.