NEW YORK — The NHL has increased security for the contentious playoff series between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers but won’t discipline the Capitals for the way they protected the Rangers bench during Game 5.
In a letter sent by New York general manager Glen Sather to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, the Rangers asked the league to punish the Capitals just as it penalized John Tortorella, saying poor security led to the confrontation between the coach and fans.
“We will follow up on the Rangers’ request, as appropriate,” NHL spokesman Frank Brown said. “We had already implemented additional security procedures for Games 6 and 7 and we don’t anticipate any further problems.”
Brown added that the Capitals would not be penalized for anything that happened in Game 5. Tortorella was given a one-game suspension for squirting water and tossing a water bottle into the crowd at Washington during Friday’s 4-0 loss to the Capitals.
The Rangers sent a letter Saturday to the NHL asserting “gross negligence” by the Capitals in response to “egregious fan misconduct.”
Spectators behind the visitors’ bench used obscene language and spit on team personnel, the letter said, and Capitals security did not act on requests to intervene.
“According to Rangers trainer Jim Ramsay, one patron was screaming at the team, in graphic language, about whether defencemen Dan Girardi and Marc Staal have a sexual relationship,” Sather wrote in a letter to Bettman that the team released Sunday.
“This was within earshot of several children seated nearby. Several other fans also made repeated homophobic remarks.”
Ramsay alerted a security guard and later a security supervisor, the letter said, but the offending fans were not removed from their seats.
“Washington’s failure to respond to what its personnel knew — and were specifically warned — was a potentially dangerous situation contributed significantly to this unfortunate incident,” Sather wrote.
The letter also asks for improved security for a potential Game 7 in Washington — a matchup that will happen after the Capitals won 5-3 on Sunday in New York with Jim Schoenfeld filling in for Tortorella.
Before Game 6, Schoenfeld, an interim assistant coach who doubles as the club’s assistant general manager, defended Tortorella’s actions.