Boudreau's words could fire up fans

GREENBURGH, N.Y.

Behind one bench in this Rangers-Caps series, you have a coach who has mixed it up so often with reporters, he's got his own top 10 highlight reel of confrontations on Canada's TSN.

Behind the other bench is a pleasant, implacable fellow who, despite some saucy language revealed to the world via HBO's "24/7" show, seems like a guy who prefers to mellow out with a Bud Light Tallboy rather than challenge the opposition.

So, naturally, it was benign Bruce Boudreau who Monday fired the first shot in a word war that didn't even exist before his taking to the airwaves in D.C. The Caps coach called Madison Square Garden "nothing," said the Verizon Center was far louder than the Garden and derided the locker rooms and benches.

"Well, the one thing, its reputation is far better than the actual building," the coach said. "I mean, it's nothing. But the reputation of being in Madison Square Garden is what makes it famous. Also, our building's a lot louder, too. So I mean, they can say what they want, but it's not that loud in there."

And then he really got going.

Boudreau followed up that radio appearance Monday morning with another challenge to the Rangers, saying Marc Staal delivered a dirty hit to Caps defenseman Mike Green's head in the second -- Green missed the final 20 games of the regular season with a concussion after a legal hit to the head from the Rangers' Derek Stepan -- and that the Rangers were targeting Green's head.

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This was all news to the Rangers, who are preparing for a Game 4 in their own building that will now have a little more zing to it among the 18,200 faithful. That's thanks to Boudreau, who apparently doesn't like having two days off between games and decided to spice things up a bit.

"There really hasn't been that much yapping," Brian Boyle told Newsday after the Rangers had an off-ice day here. "It's just been two teams trying to play a really physical, hard game."

None of the Rangers felt the same as Boudreau, of course. John Tortorella refused to take the bait during his own radio appearance Monday afternoon, and players felt like the Garden was plenty loud, especially after Brandon Dubinsky's winner with 1:39 to go.

"Maybe it'll amp up some more Wednesday because it's 2-1 now," Derek Stepan said, "but I thought it was great."

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It will amp up, but not necessarily because the Rangers can tie it up with another win. Rangers fans may be a little quicker to get down on the home side than in some other buildings -- think about the boos that rained down after the Rangers fell behind 2-0 to the Bruins after a period two weeks ago -- but they can smell blood.

They will want to try and get under Boudreau's and the Caps' skins now. That's almost as good for a New York crowd as a dominant team; this is how a guy like Sean Avery, whose greatest asset is his ability to aggravate, becomes a local hero.

Perhaps Boudreau senses the momentum is shifting and tried to throw himself into the spotlight. Or, perhaps the Caps, who have lost three of four playoff series under Boudreau and have led in all three of them, are tightening up.

Either way, it's a strange move to start challenging Rangers fans, especially with a chance Wednesday to grab a 3-1 series lead.

The Caps are still winning this tight series, but their coach is behaving as if his team needs a big morale boost.

That's another win for the Rangers in a series in which the smallest things could make a huge difference.