Rangers Report Blog

The previous post suggested the Wild game was dull or boring, and even the coach of the NYR said it was hard to watch. And it was.

That doesn’t make it anything but a good victory for your Blueshirts. Maybe a great victory. Maybe the one that proves their mettle, proves they can close out a game. Maybe the one that gives them enough of a cushion over the ninth-place Panthers that they can exhale on just making the playoffs and start thinking about getting a better seed.

Some thoughts:

1) Sean Avery had his first fight as a Ranger. (ps, I rode up in the elevator with Avery before the game, after he had signed a whole bunch of autographs outside; in the elevator he was joking with MSG employees; after the game he patiently answered questions for about 20 minutes for somebody doing a long feature story about him; Is this really Sean Avery?)

Anyway, John Tortorella thought that Avery was disappointed in his energy level in Sunday’s game and wanted to get back to being himself, and what better way than to have a scrap. Plus it helped stop the yawning for a while.

2) So did Colton Orr’s lopsided battle with old man Owen Nolan. You’ve got to respect Nolan hanging in there in this mismatch, and got to wonder how the Wild lets its captain get pummelled like that.

3) How many other players in the NHL score the goal Nik Zherdev scored, from that impossible angle, just up under the crossbar and inside the far post? Maybe a couple of dozen?

4) Another statement game from Marc Staal. The kid keeps getting better and better, and keeps opening eyes.

5) Tortorella had Mike Sauer on the ice with 2:06 to play in a 2-1 game. How’s that for showing the rookie some confidence?

6) The reason the Rangers’ power play isn’t very good is personnel. They do not have a single legitimate power-play pointman on the roster, nor do they have a big-time sniper, and they have maybe four or five guys who will dig for rebounds. Add that up and you get bottom-of-the-NHL production. All of their defensemen would be fine power-play players if they played with a Leetch. But none of them is anything close to a Leetch.

Here are the official game summary and event summary.

Jane’s at practice. She will post later. I’m out for now.

Somebody wanted me to show some, uh, guts and ask John Tortorella about the power play. Well, I was about to do that, but I was beaten to the question.

“It wasn’t good,” the coach said. “But I’m not going to run it down with you. We’ve got to work at it. That’s my responsibility. My responsibility is to try to help them. You guys are going to run it down. I’m going to try to help them get it better. Some coaching needs to come into this, too. So I need to take some responsibility there.”

He admitted that the Rangers played Minnesota’s game to a degree, and had to grind it out.

“You don’t realize how difficult that game is to play, and to grind,” he said. “They don’t give you much. I think the chances were, like, 8-8. Awful to watch. I thought it was an awful game to watch. But we found a way to win.”

“It’s like in the playoffs, You can’t let it stay in your head for too long because the schedule is pretty busy, too. So you move on — fast. You try to learn from every game and move on. I think we learned a little from teh game the other night. We played alright, but we hav eto be a little more aggressive. And we can’t skate around and hope it’s going ot take care of itself. We have to go after the other team. I think we did that a lot better tonight.”

The Rangers are five up on ninth-place Florida, and really that’s the race that matters most. Just finish in the top eight, baby.

I asked coach John Tortorella, now a month and a day into his new job, where he is in terms of knowledge of the players. On his first day, he said he was at zero.

“I feel very comfortable right now in understand where some people will succeed and where they’ll struggle,” he said. “I don’t need to have my pad with the names and numbers. I understand what our lines are, where I can move people in certain situations. We’ve kind of locked in a little bit on some penalty-killing units. I’m still not happy with the power play. I still haven’t figured two groups that you live with. I think that’s going to be a game-by-game thing, as far as who’s going and more or less a gut feel on the bench.

“But individually, I think I’m beginning to understand what some players can do and can’t do, but it’s my job right now, if there are some deficiencies, we need to teach and try to get them into another level. But I feel pretty comfortable now in understanding them as players.

“I don’t hang around with them. I don’t know who they are, and maybe that will come as you go through a full year and maybe get into some conflict along the way — which I always think is a good thing. That’s when you find out about people. As far as where they sit during the game, I feel much more comfortable where I can put people.”

Some other pregame Tortorella comments:

He said he had “no” impression of Mike Sauer off the brief morning skate. Sauer’s playing with Mara just so the other pairs can remain intact. “I know nothing about him,” Tortorella said.

Tortorella discussed at length trap vs. pressure systems. Minnesota is known for trapping under coach Jacques Lemaire.

“Whether it is Jacques in Minny or whoever it may be, there is a lot of that in the league as far as the trap in the neutral zone. So during our practices we go over different things as far as trying to get through the neutral zone. I think Jacques Lemaire gets pigeon-holed where everybody thinks he’s a defensive coach. I think his — and I know, because I’ve talked to him many times about it — his philosophy is trying to get the puck back that way in transition, is the strength.

“Any team you play against, turnovers in the netural zone is a recipe for disaster. So we need to get through there clean. Sometimes it’s not going to be tape-to-tape. Sometimes it’s going to be area plays to get their D to turn and go get the puck so we don’t have those turnovers. Second period the last game we had way too many turnovers in that neutral zone, and not so much because the team was trapping. We just didn’t pass the puck well, or we didn’t do many things well in that second period, for about nine minutes or so.

“So we have to get through there. We talked about that. It not only allows us to forecheck but it keeps them away from transition.”

And a bit more:

“Again, this style vs. the trap, it’s not right or wrong. Mine may be wrong. Jacques Lemaire’s may be right. It all depends on your philosophy as a coach, so I don’t want to put down anybody else’s style. I just believe in this style. And I think it takes out a lot of the thinking. It’s pressure. The only thing you’re thinking is pressure. And angling is a big part of the game of hockey, and I’ve tried to take some of that out, where you start angling and thinking about that, I think you’re thinking too much. A coach, if you dont’ believe in how you’re going to play, (the players) are going to rip you apart. They’ll pick you apart because you’re not teaching it the correct way, because if you don’t have a true belief you can’t (teach it). Just like a school teacher.

“I believe in this. We will have some breakdowns, but I still think you reap the benefit in the other end, and I just have a strong belief in it. So I hope they buy into it.”

He was asked if he is showing more video to the players than he would at this time of year if he had been coaching from the start of the season.

“The way I approach it, those first three months of the season … your schedule is more spread out, you have more days where you can really develop your team concept and when December comes along, your team concept needs to be nailed down and it needs to be an instinctive way of playing. I think you develop your identity and I think you start backing off the tape. Since we started here, we have shown a lot more tape than I would at this time of year than I would if I were here at the start of the year.

“We brought them in yesterday. I had probably 50-60 clips that I’d probably take 30-35 out and show them. But I sat through the night thinking about it and into the morning and I just felt we’re kind of beating a dead horse at that time. Can I say that? That isn’t too bad to say. I’ve said worse, I guess.

“My gut told me, leave them alone. Leave them alone. So we got them out of the rink. They know. They were disappointed they didn’t get the job done. I don’t think they played as bad as a lot of people think they did. You have to give a little bit of credit to Ottawa.

“But I’ve definitely done more at this time of year than I ever have, just because of just changing a little bit within a team concept.”

Tortorella on where his team is in terms of developing the identity he wants:

“I wouldn’t say way off, and I definitely wouldn’t say dead-on. It depends on the period that you talk to me. And that’s my concern, our consistency. It’s not consistency of the scoreboard or Xs and Os. It’s the consistency of a mindset. I still think we have work to do there, and for our team to feel they can step on that ice and feel good that they’re going to get it done, not hope to get it done. And that’s going to take some time. I know it’s going to take some time. It’s easy, you know, you win a couple of games and you get on a bit of a roll. But I know we have work to do there.

“I think we’ve improved, but we have a ways to go.

“I think it’s fluctuated. I think they’ve picked up the Xs and Os. Sometimes you look back at a game … I mean, we ran all over the place in that first (of back-to-back) Philly game. To me that was a great opportunity to teach, and I think they really found themselves in correcting themselves in the second Philly game, and I think we played two pretty good games after that. 

“So as a coach you look at those opportunities to teach.

“That mindset and identity as a player and, then combined, as a team, I think we have some work to do.”

Enjoy the game.
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For those who missed it, you can still view our video chat from this afternoon by clicking here, and then going to On Demand and selecting today’s (or past) videos, including those with the great Sam Weinman.

We hope to do it again at least once before the playoffs, in a couple of weeks.

Hi all. Don’t forget that Jane and I are doing a live video chat with Rangers fans today at 1 p.m.

You can access it by clicking here, or by using this link: www.lohud.com/rangersreportlive.

So bring some questions. Then it will be back to blogville for tonight’s game against the Wild.
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PS, the Rangers are mad at me for ranting about the “lower body injury” stuff. They claim it’s a league mandate. It’s still silly and stupid and dishonest to you fans, who deserve to know. If an opponent wants to target Rozsival when he comes back, it can simply look at the video of the injury. It’s not hard to guess what part of the lower body was injured.

If they told you Lundqvist was going to be out two weeks, wouldn’t you want to know why?

Minnesota’s Mikko Koivu had an MRI yesterday on his knee. He is out tonight and doctors can’t determine the severity for a few days, until after the swelling goes down. But the team admits it’s his knee. Not his lower body. Minnesota fans appreciate that. And Rozsival is no Koivu.

Update: Jane here chiming in from practice. Looks like Mike Sauer will be skating with Paul Mara tonight.

Apparently not, anyway. 

Rozsival had an MRI this afternoon and the team has announced he will be out just 7-10 days.

Here is the official announcement from the team:

MICHAL ROZSIVAL SIDELINED SEVEN TO 10 DAYS

            New York, March 23, 2009 —New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that defenseman Michal Rozsival is expected to be sidelined for seven to 10 days with a lower body injury.  He suffered the injury in the second period of last night’s game vs. Ottawa at Madison Square Garden.

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By the way, this is Carp, back from NYS’s Northlands.

I personally hate it when these idiot teams—who follow the leader on stuff like this—treat their fans with such disrespect and call it “lower” or “upper body injury.” We all know it’s his leg. Why not say it’s a hip or a thigh or a knee or an ankle. It’s going to come out anyway, and I promise if I see Rozsival, or anbody, with a “lower” body injury and I see that his knee is wrapped or his ankle, then I’m putting it up on the blog immediately.

You guys pay their darn salaries, and you are forced to pay those crazy ticket prices, and you give them nothing but your loyalty … and they can’t tell you the truth? That’s just wrong.

The Rangers have actually been lucky in the injury department this year, with not a single long-term injury and only a handful of short-term injuries (of course, there are some players many of you wish would get injured, and we won’t mention any names).

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Another reminder: Jane and I will be doing a live video chat tomorrow at 1 p.m. Here is the link: www.lohud.com/rangersreportlive

I’ll post it again in the morning.

PS, I’m somewhat excited. After traveling the map of New York State, I get to go to a game tomorrow night.

Defenseman Michael Sauer was recalled from Hartford this morning, which means that Michal Rozsival is not ready to go for tomorrow’s game against Minnesota. Rozsival, who had arthroscopic hip surgery last year, was injured in the second period of last night’s 2-1 loss to Ottawa at The Garden.

After the game, coach John Tortorella said he didn’t have an update on Rozsival, but he is reportedly scheduled for a 1 p.m. MRI today. The Rangers wouldn’t get specific about where the defenseman was hurt, characterizing it as lower body. He limped off the ice after the contact and didn’t reappear in the game. With Rozival’s medical history the caution is more than justified.

Sauer (AHL photo) is 6-foot-3, 215 pounds and has played 59 games this season for the Wolf Pack. He has six goals and 16 assists.

I’m sure this will come up when Carp and I host a LIVE VIDEO CHAT tomorrow at 1 p.m. Stop by, bring a lunch and we will hack through the thicket of your Rangers questions together…

Update: Coach John Tortorella has dropped the skating part of the optional practice today. Reading into that, he must want to give the players a rest after two straight games and the last being pretty low-energy.

Update II: Assistant coach Jim Schoenfeld pulled the trigger on Sauer, saying he beat out Corey Potter, Brian Fahey and Bobby Sanguinetti.

“It’s actually one of the good situations you want,” Schoenfeld said. “You want players competiting for a job and because of the improved play of one he surpasses another.”

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Torts said Rozsival will be missed.

“The key thing with Rosi is he can give you some offense,” Tortorella said. “He’s played well defensively but he gets us out of our end zone. He’s on our power play. The thing I liked about him, he’s been taking hits to make plays. He’s a good player and we’ll miss him. But you can’t belly ache about that, you need to find a way to make do without him and find a way to win.”

The Rangers had just four shots on goal in five power plays and, as somebody said after the game, you aren’t going to win many games if you only score a goal. Ottawa won 2-1 after Ryan Shannon gave the Senators the winning goal with 1:09 gone in the third, off a pass from Nick Foglino.

“We definitely had our chances to get the game going on the power play but for some reason we had a tough time getting the power play going tonight,” goalie Henrik Lundqvist said.

Little trivia for you, Shannon (right) grew up a Rangers fan, and watched the Wayne Gretzky retirement ceremony here. It was the first regular season game at the Garden for the kid from Darien, Conn. Look, I know you might be mad after the Rangers lost, but it’s a cool moment for him.

Back to the Rangers. With the loss, the Rangers (38-27-8) missed an opportunity to spring into a fifth place tie with Pittsburgh, and remains in the seventh spot with nine games left to play. Ottawa is 32-30-8 and has now won five straight.

“It clearly wasn’t our night, but it’s over and we’re back at it tomorrow,” Drury said. “They played well, they’re aggressive. They kind of take half the ice, pressure the wall. By the time we kind of figured things out, it was too late.”

“I don’t think that back-to-back has anything to do with it,” Sean Avery said. “(Ottawa) played back-to-back. We could have played a better game.”

Rangers coach John Tortorella tried to spark the Rangers by switching Ryan Callahan and Nikolai Zherdev, pulling Callahan to play with Sean Avery and Scott Gomez.

“I thought we were a little stale offensively,” Tortorella said.

It didn’t work, but the coach said he wouldn’t panic about one loss.

“This isn’t supposed to be easy,” Tortorella said. “It is not going to be and you are not always going to be at your best.”

0322torts

The Rangers played much of the game without Michal Rozsival, who was injured in the second period on the same play that sent Colton Orr to the penalty box with 3:44 gone. Tortorella said he hadn’t spoken to the team doctors yet and would update the defenseman’s condition in the morning. They have an optional skate in the early afternoon.

Here’s the game recap.

Henrik Lundqvist will start in goal tonight when the Rangers host the Senators (31-30-10) at 7 p.m. at Madison Square Garden. John Tortorella will use the same lineup as his did last night in the 5-3 win over the Sabres. The Rangers (38-26-8) in seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings and are a point behind the Hurricanes. With a win the Rangers would be in a tie for fifth place with Pittsburgh.

Tortorella said he realized the danger of overplaying a goalie, but that Lundqvist wanted to play and the Rangers need him. “This is crunch time,” Tortorella said.

And the other news, Torts has done a 180 degree turn on Sean Avery. “I never realized how good a skater he is, and he’s explosive,” the coach said.

But Torts said Avery needs to continue to keep it in check. “I watch him all the time to see that he stays within the limit of that line,” Tortorella said.

For reals, Ryan Callahan scored two goals on his birthday, No. 18 and 19 on the season as he turned 24.

“Personally, it was a good way to spend my birthday,” Callahan said. “It was a good birthday gift at the end, the empty netter.”

He joked that when he blew out the candles he’d actually wished for a hat trick. Maybe next year. (I love the internet, this cake is on the Rangers website.)

With the 5-3 win (after a 4-1 lead going into the third) the Rangers fall to seventh place in the Eastern Conference. That’s because a Carolina win gave them a boost, but on the flip side the Rangers are three points in front of Montreal. It’s a little bit of distance with 10 games left in the season, and the Rangers are streaking, winning seven of the last nine.

Up next is Ottawa, in about 20 hours.

Chris Drury scored on a power play, Nik Antropov had two assists and Henrik Lundqvist had 37 saves and played tight. The third period was a bit a let down for the Rangers, and Lundqvist kept it from getting ugly. John Tortorella called him the best goalie in the NHL.

It got a little chippy. Nikolai Zherdev defended Scott Gomez, who said he didn’t feel targeted after what happened with goalie Ryan Miller in an earlier meeting. Sean Avery went back and forth with Insert Sabre Here, and Brandon Dubinsky got a 10 minute misconduct with a minute left with Paul Gaustad.

This time of year, there will be drama.

Here are the official game summary and event summary from the game.

Lastly, Carp wanted me to link to this article about the death of Walt Poddubny. And props to Spraystop for putting it up at the bottom of the game thread.

Madison Square Garden needed about two hours to convert a basketball court into an ice hockey rink for tonight’s matchup with the Sabres (34-29-8, 76 pts.). The PSAL boys and girls basketball championships were held this afternoon.

A win tonight would effectively mean that Buffalo won’t be able to keep the Rangers (37-26-8, 82 pts.) from a playoff spot, although Carolina (73), Montreal (71) and Florida (71) still can.

The Rangers have won six out of their last eight games. The game is on Channel 11 tonight, don’t go to MSG Network and injure your remote when the game doesn’t appear.

The Rangers lost to Buffalo 4-2 last time they met, but try asking coach John Tortorella about anything that happened before he got here. He may turn green and flip the podium upside down.

OK, that’s overstating it, but not by much.

And don’t forget to tune in to our LIVE VIDEO CHAT on Tuesday at 1 p.m. We will take your questions and attempt to speak in coherent sentences.