VANCOUVER — One after another on Tuesday afternoon, the Rangers expressed surprise.
Center Derick Brassard answered: “Oh yeah?” Defenseman Keith Yandle’s reaction was: “Really?”
Yes, gentlemen, Alain Vigneault is approaching NHL game No. 999 against the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night before he becomes the 23rd coach to reach the 1,000-game milestone Friday in Edmonton. Vigneault, 54, clearly isn’t talking about it on the team plane. That’s not him. But he always knows where he stands, just as he did last month in Ottawa when a reporter mistakenly asked why he never had won a Jack Adams Award.