2022 Stanley Cup playoffs - Jacob Trouba doesn't think about being the villain

NEW YORK — Jacob Trouba doesn't spend time thinking about his perceived villainy.

Many NHL fans do, as they watch the New York Rangers defenseman pulverize opponents with his signature open-ice checks, sometimes with injurious results. They call for penalties that aren't whistled. They call for suspensions that aren't handed out. They boo him when he touches the puck on the road, which Trouba claims he doesn't hear.

Well, with one exception.

«I heard them in Pittsburgh,» he admitted. «I don't really think too much about it, I guess. It's the way I've always played.»

Trouba's hit on Penguins star Sidney Crosby, which took the latter out of Game 5 and then had him miss Game 6 of their first-round series, changed the trajectory of the Rangers' postseason. His hits on Max Domi and Seth Jarvis in the second round against the Carolina Hurricanes altered two critical games that ended up as New York victories.

«It seems like he could turn the tide for us when we need it. There were maybe one or two big ones that everyone kind of sees, but there are many more that wear guys down,» Rangers defenseman Adam Fox said. «It takes a toll on teams. It's not something that's going to come up on every box score.»

It might not make the box score, but it surfaces on social media in real time, with opposing fans blasting the hits, and Rangers fans affectionately referring to the act as getting «Trouba'd.» In postgame discourse, opposing coaches have inferred that Trouba intended to injure his opponents.

«I guess I don't pay much attention to the outside narrative. My Twitter does,» Trouba said, with a smile. «You get inside the [dressing] room and you're just another person on the team.»

He skates nearly 25 minutes per game and contributes