Annals of facial hair (NHL edition): The talisman

Boyle said Monday that he was not really trying to impress anyone with his mustache, but was aiming to resemble the swashbuckling guy on Captain Morgan rum bottles. With one notable exception, his teammates are much less enamored of mustaches than Boyle.

“I’ve just got to get more guys on board,” Boyle, 26, said. “I just can’t grow a beard. This is all I’ve got.”

But a black mustache is about as much facial hair as the 24-year-old Rangers center Brandon Dubinsky can muster, too. And now Dubinsky’s mustache is being regarded by the Rangers as a talisman after they beat the Washington Capitals, 3-2, on Sunday to narrow the best-of-seven series to two games to one with Game 4 scheduled for Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.

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Dubinsky is a young player on a relatively young team that relied on its energy and resourcefulness to squeeze into the playoffs. Kind of like his mustache, his goal Sunday was no thing of beauty, but it counted as much as a pinpoint snap shot.

—Dave Caldwell, "Rangers Follow the Mustachioed in the Playoffs," NYT