NEW YORK -- It was advantage Rangers on Saturday in the off-ice gamesmanship that is running parallel to the Eastern Conference

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. Custom NCAA Jerseys . 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. Replica NCAA Jerseys . The 26-year-old Regina native teamed up with Denny Morrison and Mathieu Giroux to win gold in 2010. Makowsky also was 13th in the 5,000 metres and 19th in the 1,500m in Vancouver. He also represented Canada at the 2014 Games in Sochi, helping the pursuit team finish fourth and finishing 28th in the 1,500. Cheap Basketball College Jerseys . With a victory seemingly slipping away late in the third quarter, his quick scoring flurry helped Golden State regain control early in the fourth. https://www.chinajerseysncaa.us/ . Winners of two straight, the Flames will try to become the first team in 25 years to go three consecutive games without taking a penalty Saturday night in San Jose.SAITAMA, Japan - Canadas Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford had a season-best score in the pairs short program Wednesday to sit in second place at the ISU world figure skating championships. Duhamel, from Lively, Ont., and Radford, from Balmertown, Ont., were second with 77.01 points, just behind Olympic bronze medallists Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany. The four-time world champs lead at 79.02 and Sochi silver medallists Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia were third with 76.15 points. "It was amazing," said Radford, who won world bronze last year with Duhamel. "We wish we could skate like that all the time. Most of this season, we tried so hard to please everyone and fight for every point. Today we were a lot more relaxed and its put us in a perfect spot heading into the free skate." Less than eight points separate the top five pairs. At the Games, Duhamel and Radford helped Canada to the silver medal in the team event and were seventh in pairs. "We came back from the Olympics feeling like we had achieved all our goals," said Duhamel. "We feel very settled but from this point on were going to be competing for ourselves and not worry about every little point." Tatsuki Machida of Japan upstaged compatriot and Olympic gold medallist Yuzuru Hanyu on Wednesday to finish first in the mens short program. Machida, who was fifth at last months Sochi Games, hit all his jumps and scored a career-high 98.21 points to finish ahead of Javier Fernandez of Spain, who had 96.42 points. Three-time world champion Patrick Chan of Toronto is skipping the championships. The mens event concludes with the free skate on Friday. Skating to music from the movie "East of Eden," Machida electrified the capacity crowd of 18,000 at Saitama Super Arena with a near-flawless routine that opened with a quad toe loop, triple toe loop combination. The 24-year-old Machida also included a triple Axel and a triple Lutz in his routine. "I got motivated when I saw Hanyu win the gold in Sochi," Machida said. "I think this is thee best chance Ill have to get a medal and will do my best in the free skate. Cheap NCAA Jerseys Authentic. I was able to get a lot of positive energy from the crowd tonight." Hanyu fell on the opening quad toe loop and finished with 91.24 points for third place. "Needless to say the toe loop wasnt good," Hanyu said. "But how I jumped wasnt that bad so I am going to adjust for the free program." Fernandez, who was fourth in Sochi, impressed the judges with a dynamic routine and got high marks for a triple Lutz, triple toe loop combination. "One skater did better than me but I am still happy with my performance," Fernandez said. "Sometimes its hard to get motivated right after the Olympics by my coaches told me to work hard and I can see that hard works pays off." Tomas Verner of the Czech Republic was fourth, followed by Han Yan of China. Kevin Reynolds of Coquitlam, B.C., was 15th, world junior champion Nam Nguyen of Toronto was 16th and Elladj Balde of Pierrefonds, Que., was 22nd. Kirsten Moore-Towers of St. Catharines, Ont., and Dylan Moscovitch of Toronto were sixth in the pairs while Paige Lawrence of Kennedy, Sask., and Rudi Swiegers of Kipling, Sask., were 12th. In Sochi, Moore-Towers and Moscovitch contributed to Canadas team silver and were fifth in the pairs. "It was nice to skate the program clean one last time. All those run-throughs paid off," Moore-Towers said. "I felt great, calm and confident," added Moscovitch. "The skate felt good. Our goal is to skate to clean programs and we are halfway there." The pairs event concludes Thursday with the free skate. "I think youll find there is an easier sense of flow throughout the program," Radford said. "Weve just made some little adjustments to free up the program and when weve been skating it in practice, it feels lighter and smoother and it feels easier for us to just let it go and enjoy the moment." The womens short program is also scheduled for Thursday. ——— With files from The Associated Press. ' ' '