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NEW YORK -- It was advantage Rangers on Saturday in the off-ice gamesmanship that is running parallel to the Eastern Conference final between New York and Montreal. There has been no shortage of storylines in this series, which has already featured one surgery and two suspensions in three games. And with two days off between Games 3 and 4, the old adage that idle hands are the devils workshop was proved true at Madison Square Garden when two New York assistant coaches showed up to watch Montreal practise. The intrusion seemed squarely aimed at getting under Montreals skin. When Canadiens goalie coach Stephane Waite noticed the break in protocol, he told head coach Michel Therrien. As the players stretched, Therrien moved down the rink and had words with Rangers assistant Ulf Samuelsson. Observers said the exchange was somewhat prickly. Samuelsson, no stranger to antagonizing rivals during his playing days, and fellow assistant coach Dan Lacroix left soon after. Therrien told reporters later there was a "gentlemans agreement" that rival coaches dont attend practices on non-game days. The idea is to allow coaches to make changes or test out new strategies in private. "When we saw those assistant coaches there, they were not supposed to be there, so we let them know," Therrien said pithily. New York president and GM Glen Sather watched the practice from one of the top rows of the lower bowl at Madison Square Garden, seemingly more interested in his phone than what was happening on the ice. Game 4 is Sunday night. The Rangers lead the series two games to one. While coaches seemed hot and bothered over the presence of the Rangers coaches, Canadiens defenceman P.K. Subban was oblivious. "I get in trouble when Im looking up in the stands," he said, drawing laughs. The Canadiens, coming off a bitter seven-game battle with their rival Bruins, are finding themselves down and dirty again in the trenches with the Rangers. The series has already left an ugly trail. Montreals Brandon Prust has been suspended two games for the Game 3 hit that broke Derek Stepans jaw. Rangers agitator Dan Carcillo has been banned for 10 games for jostling a linesman in the wake of the Prust hit. And Stepan was recovering in hospital Saturday from surgery to repair his jaw. Carcillo has requested that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman review the 10-game suspension, according to the NHL Players Association. "I think its building," Habs forward Brendan Gallagher said of the animosity between the two teams, which he has helped grow by throwing his five-foot-nine, 180-pound body around with reckless abandon. "Last game, it certainly took a big step forward," he added. Gallagher looks like his mum still packs him a lunch. But he is fearless, a hockey Smurf full of grit and attitude. While his assistants were stirring the pot Saturday, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault -- the picture of calm normally -- was still burning over the missed call on the Prust hit and the domino-effect mayhem that ensued. "At the end of the day if the right call is made on the ice, that whole situation doesnt happen," he lamented. The war of words continued on the Rangers website, which noted Stepan was New Yorks second-leading playoff scorer while fourth-liner Prust "has had trouble keeping up with the speedy Rangers through the first three games of this series." The good news for Vigneault was word that Derick Brassard is healthy. The New York centre left early in Game 1 with an upper body injury after being checked by Canadiens defenceman Mike Weaver and has not played since. Brassard told reporters after practice that he was good to go. That brought a smile to the face of Vigneault. "I was told he cleared himself," Vigneault said with a laugh. "Thats good to know. He didnt tell me." As one might expect, Vigneault said Stepan was "unlikely" to play Sunday. The 23-year-old centre has not missed a game since coming into the league in the 2010-11 season. Carcillo declined to speak to reporters Saturday. But Vigneault said the player knew he needed to have kept control of himself. "I cant begin to tell you how bad he feels about the whole thing," the coach said. "His situation, his personal future, the team. Theres nothing he can do about it now and theres nothing we can do about it." Forward Brad Richards called the abrasive Carcillo "a great teammate." "I heard a lot about him before but I dont have one bad thing to say about him." The New York players, for the most part, had little to say about the length of the ban to Prust, a former Ranger. But goalie Henrik Lundqvist said that hot spots in the playoffs usually cool down in the off-season. "Especially during the playoffs, you dont see your opponents as friends, even though youve played with them. Right now I dont have any friends in Montreal," the stylish Swede said with a chuckle. "Theyre just enemies and you play it that way. Thats your approach. "But you also have to understand this game, you know, theres a lot of players that play on the edge. Thats their role, thats what they do. Theyre always going to play it like that and sometimes things happen and maybe they take it a little too far. As it comes to relationships, as friends, in the summertime you move past it. "But right now, do I like what happened? Absolutely not. But its on the ice, it happens on the ice. It is what it is." Michael Bournival slotted into Prusts place on Montreals fourth line in practice. Francis Bouillon was skating in place of Nathan Beaulieu on defence. Subban and other Habs said, despite the Game 3 overtime win, the Canadiens have more in the tank. "I dont think weve played our best hockey yet this series," said Subban. And they acknowledged that they cannot rely on young goalie Dustin Tokarskis heroics, as they did last time out. "We now we cant expect him to do that every game, so we want to be better in front of him," said Canadiens captain Brian Gionta. On the Rangers side, J.T. Miller was skating in place of Carcillo on the fourth line with Derek Dorsett and Brian Boyle. New York gave winger Chris Kreider a "maintenance day" off. That meant Dominic Moore skated with Rick Nash and Jesper Fast, filling in for Kreider. NOTES: Game 4 will be shown at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Canadiens officials say more than 20,000 tickets have already been snapped up. Buy Puma Shoes Online . The traditional pre-Masters event was halted early due to inclement weather. Harrington, who tied for first in 2003 and won in 2004, became the first three-time champion of the event. Cheap Puma Shoes Sale . FLIP SAUNDERS (Timberwolves): Im not the least bit surprised that he appointed himself as head coach after his search concluded. http://www.cheappuma.us/ . The 28-year-old from Rochester, Alta., was selected by the Redblacks from the Saskatchewan Roughriders roster in the 2013 CFL Expansion Draft. Cheap Puma Shoes Online . 1. CAVALIERS: At 19-20, theyre a mess. Watched the game Tuesday night vs. Phoenix and their defence was poor (107 points and 52 per cent for Suns). Where is the high level play from Kyrie Irving and LeBron James (13 turnovers!)? Kevin Love looks like a man thats wondering what he got himself into. Cheap Puma Shoes .Y. -- Major League Soccer has agreed to new measures to protect gay players from discrimination and harassment as a result of meetings with New Yorks attorney general.Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has credited Lewis Hamiltons Monaco GP victory to an inspired tactical gamble - and the team play of Nico Rosberg. Wolff applauded Rosberg as a real team player for accepting that unless he ceded position to championship rival Hamilton, Mercedes would lose the race to Daniel Ricciardo.Although a botched pit-stop by Red Bull would ultimately cost the Australian victory, Hamilton was only propelled into a challenge for victory by Rosbergs sacrifice and an ad hoc decision not to use the intermediate tyres - effectively skipping a pit-stop in the process - during the switch-over from wets to slicks as the Monte Carlo track dried out. The only way to attempt a race win was to gamble, said Wolff.Hamilton thanks gentleman RosbergOn the instruction to Rosberg to yield, Wolff added: For any driver it is very difficult to accept such a situation so we looked at it for a number of laps and hoped for the tyre to switch on. We debated it for quite a long time but it was clear there was a problem in the [Rosberg] car - it was almost like we had a damaged car.To understand the situation was great team play from Nico. Not once did he question it. After being let through by Rosberg, Hamilton was unable to significantly dent the size of Ricciardos lead, which stubbornly remained north of 10 seconds, before the Australian stopped for intermediates.However, the 10-second gap Hamilton had almost immediately pulled out on Rosberg meant the team, assured by the world champions feedback from the cockpit that his wet tyres had not reached their shelf life, were able to roll the dice tactically.He was around 28 seconds clear and as a pit-stop here generally takes 20 seconds, we knew we had some time to play with, explained Wolff. Experience Silverstone live Get your 2016 tickets to Silverstone now! Despite Ricciardo quickly catching Hamilton on his fresh intermediates, Hamilton and the ultra-tight confines of the Monaco circuit combined to rebuff the Australians advances before Red Bulls pit-stop calamity enabled Hamilton to hold oonto a lead he wouldnt surrender.ddddddddddddThat was a great victory, one of the most important ones, Mercedes chairman Dieter Zetsche told Sky Sports F1. Everybody is playing together, the team did strategically an amazing job and Nico was helping too, so its a fantastic team success.Hamilton: I earned that winI think we got a little imbalance into the team and now obviously this was a tremendous success for Lewis. We are supporting both drivers as we always have done, and Lewis has felt that today again and this is very good. We push both drivers as far as we can but of course when there are some struggles its very important that he gets this strong confidence.Hamiltons start to the season had been afflicted by various mechanical problems, but Wolff said the difficult moments have strengthened Lewis and strengthened our relationship.If you really go through bad times together it gives the relationship more strength, the Austrian added. Of course we had many discussions and difficult moments - and this win was just what the doctor ordered. He needed that win. Ted Kravitz analyses all the action from and offers his verdict on the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix Also See: Hamilton thanks gentleman Rosberg WATCH: Bieber and Lewis celebrate Rosberg baffled by lack of pace Get Sky F1: Every race live China NFL Jerseys Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys NFL Jerseys Cheap Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap Basketball Jerseys Online Stitched Hockey Jerseys Wholesale Baseball Jerseys Football Jerseys Outlet College Jerseys For Sale Cheap MLB Jerseys Wholesale Soccer Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys For Sale Wholesale NFL Jerseys ' ' '