Rangers left wing Sammy Blais sets before a face off...

Rangers left wing Sammy Blais sets before a face off against the Detroit Red Wings in the third period of an NHL hockey game at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke

Sometimes in hockey, a big hit — or a fight — can be almost as important to a team as a goal. Jacob Trouba had two huge hits — and two fights — that had a major impact in the Rangers’ 5-4 win over the Calgary Flames on Monday night at the Garden in their first game back after the All-Star break.

Trouba dumped Calgary forward Dillon Dube to the ice in the first period and had to immediately fight Chris Tanev. In the second period, Trouba blew up   Nazem Kadri — knocking Kadri’s helmet off — and then fought Dube.

In both cases, the Trouba hit was deemed clean by the officials and Calgary got a penalty for starting the fight with Trouba, giving the Rangers a power play. After the fight with Dube, the Rangers scored on the power play to take a 3-2 lead.

“That’s why he’s our captain,’’ Artemi Panarin said. “Everyone knows how he plays, and that’s why guys give him respect. And I’m just so happy to have that guy on our team.’’

Gerard Gallant said he didn’t know if the hits and fights sparked his team (there was another big hit in the first, by the Rangers’ Sammy Blais on Milan Lucic, that led to a fight between MacKenzie Weegar and Rangers rookie Will Cuylle). But he thought it unfortunate that every big hit seemed to lead to a fight.

“It’s a shame you have to [fight] every time you throw a hit,’’ Gallant said. “The first hit [on Dube] was a good, clean hockey hit, and it wasn’t a dangerous hit, and you wouldn’t think to be retaliation for that. But there was, and that’s fine. But the second one, I mean, he hit Kadri pretty hard and . . . it looked like Kadri might have got hurt, and I understand guys standing up for their teammates. But the first one I thought was a little overreaction for me.’’

Said Trouba, “You try to kind of get yourself back into the game after a long layoff. They’re a big, physical team . . . We can play physical, too.’’

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