The acrid stench outside the visitors locker room at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night was stifling enough to make me gasp. So I had to wonder how a winded Toronto Maple Leaf could come off the ice into the thick, cigar-smoke-laden hall and actually catch his breath.

"That's our coach," says D Bryan McCabe, referring to Leafs head coach/GM Pat Quinn. "I guess we're just used to it. It's not that bad unless it makes its way into the dressing room."

Still gross, right?

"Yeah," says McCabe. "But it's always there, win or lose, 24-7, all the time."

Of course, Quinn is quick to blame assistant coach Rick Ley for the smell, but everyone at Madison Square Garden knew better. Rangers GM Glen Sather left a surprise in the visiting coaches room -- an obnoxiously large "No Smoking" poster signed "This means you, Pat ... Glen Sather."

But Sather himself watched Thursday's morning skate from a seat behind the bench, puffing all the while on a no-doubt-Quinn-gifted cigar. Strange, maybe that league-wide "No Smoking" policy in NHL rinks just doesn't apply to GMs.

Not that many people were around to notice the postgame fog. By the middle of the third period, the Rangers were down by only two goals, but the vast majority of the sellout crowd had done just that -- sold out. The Rangers, for the first time in recent memory, were battling a team for first place in the conference, and at the end of the game the building was virtually empty.

So, what difference does it make? Smoke 'em if you've got 'em.

E-mail Lindsay Berra at lindsay.berra@espnmag.com.