Maybe the Canadiens — as they somewhat suggested they might — should have targeted Derick Brassard in Game 4 after all.
Because the Rangers center, returning after missing two games with an injury, made the Canadiens pay in his team's 3-2 win Sunday at the Garden that has the Habs on the brink of elimination, down 3-1 in the Eastern Conference final, which shifts to Montreal for Game 5 on Tuesday at the Bell Centre.
Brassard, returning to the ice after missing the previous two games with an undisclosed injury, gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead with 55.3 seconds remaining in the second period, when he broke free in open ice, received a perfect long pass from Dan Girardi at the blue line and buried one past Dustin Tokarski.
Brassard's goal was his fifth of the playoffs and eighth point in 16 postseason games.
"It was great to be back out there with my teammates and it was great to get on the score sheet,'' Brassard said. "I want to bring some offense to the team and I hope I can bring it to the next game.''
With the Rangers without Derek Stepan, their top-line center who had his jaw broken in Thursday night's game and had surgery Friday, they were more than happy to have Brassard back in the lineup.
"I saw when [Tokarski] came out, I knew I was going short side, but just before I [shot] I was deciding whether I was going to try and deke him or shoot on him,'' Brassard said of the goal. "Lucky enough it went in.''
Brassard's linemate, Mats Zuccarello saw no luck involved, calling it "a real sniper shot.''
The Brassard saga has been a big part of what has morphed into a contentious series between the teams. Part of that contentiousness occurred when Canadiens defenseman Mike Weaver knocked Brassard out of Game 1 with a questionable hit. Brassard went on to miss Games 2 and 3 with what was described by the team as an "upper-body injury.''
Canadiens coach Michel Therrien, who's been the instigator in a number of gamesmanship maneuvers in the series, speaking in French to reporters from Montreal, said Saturday he and his Canadiens "expect Derick Brassard to play and we know exactly where he's injured."
Weaver, after the Canadiens' morning skate, said Brassard's injury was to his left shoulder.
On Sunday, hours before the teams were to play Game 4 and Brassard was returning from his two-game absence, Therrien was confronted with the fact he might have indicted himself in a matter of premeditated violence.
"I know the league is looking at [Therrien's comment about Brassard] and expect it to be handled quietly with private warning," an industry source told The Post's Larry Brooks.
That private warning may have been the conversation between league vice president Colin Campbell, Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin and Therrien Sunday morning near the Zamboni entrance at the Garden. Seen standing together and talking, the specifics of the conversation might be unknown, but not impossible to glean from context of the situation.
"In the hockey world it's a small world, so we knew exactly what happened to Derick Brassard," Therrien said before the game. "There is no free pass. We're in the playoffs. But the intention is not to hurt the guy. I mean, come on."
Rangers coach Alain Vigneault, addressing Therrien's comment, said, "I hope nothing happens to Brass. The player and Michel could be in trouble."
There were no overt attempts by the Canadiens to make a run at Brassard. Perhaps they paid for it.
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