Tortorella Using Gaborik as a Scapegoat?

I think it has become quite clear that Rangers leading scorer Marian Gaborik has not been playing at 100 percent since returning to the lineup in Washington on Saturday. There is no question that he is not himself when playing with an injury. Especially when that injury is involving his leg, handicapping him in a way, being that his main strength is his speed. So when taking all of that into consideration, how on earth can head coach John Tortorella blame Marian Gaborik for the 2-0 loss to the Capitals on Sunday, and then once again make another relating comment after the overtime loss to Buffalo? Is Gaborik seriously the only scapegoat Torts can come up with?

I know we seem to go over this often, but I would just like to revisit the theory for a brief moment. If not for Marian Gaborik, this team would not still be in the playoff picture. This team would have been sellers at the deadline, and right now, would be in the middle of a tank for a draft pick. If not for Marian Gaborik, goaltender Henrik Lundqvist would have exploded due to the lack of goal scoring from the forwards in front of him.

That said, you are going to blame Gaborik for a loss in a game he did not play well, but was only at about 75 percent? That is nothing short of poor and pathetic coaching. It is one thing to make a point publicly to get a player motivated, but to pretty much put the blame on him for two straight loses is sad, just sad. It really shows what this team/coaching staff has come to.

“They stunk” were the exact words that came out of Tortorella’s mouth when referring to the line of Vinny Prospal, Erik Christensen, and Marian Gaborik. Well Mr. Tortorella, how about the rest of the team? You’re telling me they did not stink? How about Drury who left his man in overtime against Buffalo? How about Henrik Lundqvist allowing a wrap-around to Patrick Kaleta? No, it is Gaborik’s fault they lost, because that is a logical reasoning, right?

No. What John Tortorella pulled off over this past weekend was unacceptable and unprofessional and I know I may be making a big deal over something small, but it just adds to the list of mistakes the former Stanley Cup winning coach has been guilty of this season. The funny thing is, he hasn’t admitted to any of those mistakes, thinking that we are not intelligent enough to see them ourselves.

When you have your coach calling out his star player, who is dealing with a nagging injury, multiple times in a few day span, well, it is embarrassing. As the general manager, Glen Sather should have taken Tortorella in a private room and set him straight or even say something publicly, giving the hot headed skipper a taste of his own medicine. But of course, speaking with the media is looked upon as a sac-religious act in Sather’s eyes.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments.

(Image courtesy of AP Photo)

Rangers Tribune to Interview Dave Maloney

You may have realized that we haven't had an interview up again since we had Stan Fischler answer some questions for the site back in August, as well as Andrew Gross of the Record back in July. Quite frankly, the Rangers have had a compact schedule this season with the Olympics, not giving me much time to squeeze another piece into our "Interview File" series. Thankfully, over the past week, I finally got a chance to get a hold of our next victim, I mean, guest.

Dave Maloney, former Rangers Captain and now MSG Analyst, will be answering my questions some time in the next week, discussing the current Blueshirts squad and what it will take for them to make the playoffs. I went with Dave because, as we all know, he is very honest in his analysis and opinion. He does not hold back and has a good grasp on the game from his experience in the league.

I felt that if there was one guy on the MSG broadcast that would bring us the most interesting material, it would in fact be Mr. Maloney. With that being said, I would just like to take this opportunity to thank Dave for responding to my e-mail and accepting to do the interview. Like I said, I expect it to be up within the next week or so. I will be sure to let everyone know ahead of time.

To read my offseason Q and A's with Gross and Fischler, follow the links below.

Gross: http://www.rangerstribune.com/2009/07/interview-file-andrew-gross-on-2009-10.html

Fischler: http://www.rangerstribune.com/2009/08/interview-file-stan-fischler-talks-2009.html

The Avery Factor No Longer in Effect

There is so much that goes along with the name Sean Avery, both on and off the ice. He may be more popular for his antics against rival goaltender Martin Brodeur, or for his “sloppy seconds” remark last season, but all of that aside, he is a solid hockey player that knows the sport well. However, something has changed this season that is holding back arguably the league’s biggest pest, and I have a feeling that has to do a lot with head coach John Tortorella.

When Tortorella was hired in 2009, a big question upon his arrival would be how he would work with Sean Avery after making a comment on television earlier that season, stating Avery does not deserve to be in the league. It took a while until the two ran into a conflict here in New York, which resulted in Avery sitting in the press box as a healthy scratch for game four of the Quarterfinal Series against the Washington Capitals.

After that occurrence, I think Tortorella then made the decision that he is going to keep a leash on Sean, and keep it very tight to boot. The fact that we no longer see Avery’s antics as often as we did while Renney was coach is a clear sign Avery has been warned about how far he is allowed to go, and that Tortorella has made sure it is known who is in control here.

If you think back to mid-January when the Blueshirts took on the Montreal Canadiens at Madison Square Garden, Avery was called for roughing as he cross-checked a player to the ice after the whistle for no apparent reason. Upon returning to the bench after serving the two minute minor, Avery quickly attempted to explain himself but was cut short by Torts, who sent him to the end of the bench where he would sit until the end of the period. Yes, it was an unnecessary penalty and yes, his benching was lifted later that night, but this once again was another example of how Tortorella means no bones about who is boss.

So my question, after taking all of the above confrontations into consideration, is if it has affected Avery’s all around game. I mean, you want him to focus on playing the hockey instead of creating sideshows, but Torts may be tugging that leash a bit too hard and getting to Avery mentally. Afterall, Aves only has eight goals on the season, and a total of 25 points.

Avery has an ego. Avery has an attitude. Avery has a hefty reputation. But while he may act like he does not give a rat’s tail as to what Tortorella says or thinks, he does, simply because Torts controlls his ice time, and essentially, his career. I have heard of past cases where Avery has told others that he is “not afraid” of Tortorella, which I don’t doubt, but the fact is that he respects him and will do as he says.

Unfortunately for Avery, by Tortorella not allowing him to be himself, I am not too sure the Ontario native is free to play his game. Avery is not just a pest, he is not just an agitator. He is a skilled hockey player that can make things happen on the ice, but Tortorella’s strict rulebook has deprived Avery, in my opinion, to freely play hockey.

Thoughts?

(Photo courtesy of Getty Images)

The Home Ice Disadvantage

14-15-6 is the New York Rangers record while playing in front of their home crowd at Madison Square Garden this season. Below .500 while playing in the World's Most Famous Arena. Below .500 while playing before some of the most passionate hockey fans here in the United States. It goes without saying that the Blueshirts have no excuses for the drought on home ice in 2009-10, in fact, the Rangers are the only teams in the Eastern Conference, besides the Toronto Maple Leafs, that have such a horrific record at home. That is ironic since Toronto and New York are the number one and number two rated hockey markets in the National Hockey League.

There could be several explanations for the Rangers failure while playing at MSG. The first and most obvious that comes to mind is pressure. This crowd may be passionate, but along with passion comes honesty, and they, by all means, do not hold back from letting this team know how they feel. As we saw yesterday, they are not even afraid to let the organization know how they feel. That could definitely destroy the self-esteem of these players, but at the same time, they should use it as momentum. They are "professionals" afterall.

The other factor, that many do not take into account, is the fact that opponents look forward to playing at Madison Square Garden. Now I am going to have to put you in the player's mind for a moment in order for you to understand this. Picture yourself as a rookie looking for an opportunity to remain in the lineup. You enter MSG, the atmosphere is electric and somehow you have the ability to silence 18,200 screaming maniacs with just one shot, hit, or altercation. To me, that is pretty damn motivational and a meaningful way to get your coach's attention.

With that being said, why don't the Rangers look at it the opposite way? With just one shot, hit, or altercation, you could bring a packed house to their feet and raise the noise level tremendously. Yet this team still finds ways to come out flat at home to begin games, which results in those cheers that welcomed them to the ice, turning into boos that chase them off of it. That is simply inexcusable when you look at the situation the way I just laid it out for you. I do not care if leadership or the coaching staff does not know how to motivate the team, the prospect of playing in front of that crowd should have you raring to go regardless.

The lack of production at home is hurting this team in more ways than just the standings. First off, attendance has went down. We have heard the guys on Blueshirt Banter Radio explain to us how the Rangers no longer send them statements regarding the sellout streak after each game like they did earlier in the season, and for one reason: There are no more sellouts.

In addition to that, at the start of every contest, you can sense a feeling of unease in the stands. That is because the fanatics do not know what to expect from their beloved Rangers and no longer trust them. This roller coaster of a season has them guessing how many goals the team will lose by before they even step foot into the Garden.

If the Blueshirts think they can just get away with this and let it slide like they seem to do with the rest of their problems, then good luck making the playoffs and good luck getting season ticket holders to renew their plans. It just isn't happening. As we saw yesterday at the rally, fans are fed up and refuse to put up with the same old antics every season. And really, can you blame them?
(Image courtesy of AP Photo)

Postgame: Overtime Woes Continue as Rangers Lose to Sabres, 2-1

You can say that this team has no luck, which is true in a sense, but at some point you have to turn things around and end these overtime woes. The Rangers have not done that as their misery in the extra period continues with Patrick Kaleta banging home a rebound in front to win the game for the Buffalo Sabres. For the Blueshirts, this was their second overtime loss in three games, the first coming on Thursday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The first two periods basically saw each team exchanging shots and both goaltenders playing tremendously. The Rangers controlled the tempo in the first period, registering sixteen shots on Ryan Miller, but once again, no goals. In the second, it was the Sabres who had the slight edge in play. Lundqvist and Miller, however, proved why they were competing in the Olympics, making the key saves when their teams needed it most.

The third was when things began to unravel as it was first Adam Mair who was able to beat Henrik Lundqvist with a quick snap in the slot to make it 1-0. With just over a minute remaining in regulation, Brandon Dubinsky converted on the powerplay with his 16th on the season to tie the game at one. That was the way the third would end so off to overtime we went.

I thought the game was over when Tim Connolly broke through the defense right off the opening faceoff. Thankfully Hank made the stop, but he did not make the stop on Kaleta two minutes later. Henrik may want that goal back, but it is the defense that needed to take Kaleta out of the play there. He should not have been able to walk into the crease.

Give credit to Sean Avery and Ryan Callahan. Both were playing with a determined attitude in this game, creating chances by making strong moves to the net and also were very effective defensively. I would like to see these two play on a line together with Brandon Dubinsky up the middle, just for the sake of bringing a spark to the ice every shift, but head coach John Tortorella had so many different line combinations out there tonight, I did not even know who was skating with whom.

Henrik Lundqvist was also solid for the Blueshirts. In the second period particularly, Hank needed to be sharp and aware. He was just that and once again, deserved to win this game. But yet again, the night did not finish the way he would have liked it to. It is almost like watching the same horror (or comedy) film over and over and over again. Something needs to give for this team while playing on home ice.

And finally, the defense as a whole was much better tonight when comparing it to their performances in the past two contests. The blocked shots, which I do not know the exact number on, were coming consistently for the Rangers, making the job a bit easier for Henrik Lundqvist.


Now it is off to New Jersey where the Rangers will go head-to-head against the New Jersey Devils. If you thought tonight’s action was slow, wait until you sit through the snore-fest that will take place Wednesday at the Rock, unless of course either goaltender budges.
(Images courtesy of AP Photo)

Pregame: Rangers Look to Straighten Themselves Out against Sabres

The Rangers have now come out with two back-to-back uninspiring performances against the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals. Both of those opponents are top notch and if the Blueshirts think they will have it any easier against a Buffalo Sabres team tonight at Madison Square Garden, they are mistaken. Continuing to lose games at this stage of the season isn’t going to help their playoff push by any means, so I suggest they kick things into gear now, while they still can.

The Rangers, with Saturday’s loss, have fallen to tenth in the East where they are tied with the Atlanta Thrashers, who they play on Friday. The Sabres sit in the third place spot in the conference, leading their division with 77 total points. They have been able to hold that third place position despite struggling as of late, only winning two of their last ten games. Hopefully New York will be able to take advantage of that.

Rangers Projected Lineup

Prospal - Christensen - Gaborik
Dubinsky - Jokinen - Callahan
Avery - Anisimov - Drury
Shelley - Boyle - Prust

Staal - Girardi
Potter - Rozsival
Redden - Gilroy

Lundqvist

Henrik Lundqvist will be back in net tonight for the Rangers after getting the night off in Washington with Alex Auld between the pipes. Auld was sharp when he needed to be, besides the second Caps goal where I felt he overcommitted. I was very impressed with his game and clearly he will be more serviceable than Steve Valiquette was for this club. Henrik always seems to put on some of his best performances after a night of rest, and the Blueshirts surely hope they get just that from their all-star netminder tonight.

After missing two consecutive games due to what was believed to be a groin injury, forward Marian Gaborik made his return to the lineup last night. It was pretty apparent that he does not have his legs yet, but at the same token, he did not play half bad for a guy that is coming back earlier than he probably should. How Gaborik plays today will be a tell tale sign of his injury status. If he seems to be even slower than he was against Washington, than we will know things are getting progressively worse.

Defenseman Wade Redden played just two shifts in the third period of last night’s tilt. Not sure if that was as punishment from head coach John Tortorella, or if it was a nagging injury that kept him out. Either way, no call-ups were made between Saturday and today, so all signs point towards Redden playing in this tilt.

Sabres Projected Lineup

Vanek - Connolly - Pominville
Torres - Roy - Mancari
Grier - Kennedy - Hecht
Mair - Ellis - Kaleta

Myers - Tallinder
Rivet - Butler
Lydman - Montador

Miller

In-game updates avaliable at twitter.com/RangersTribune.

New Commenting Platform Explained

As you may have noticed, yesterday afternoon I took another step in improving the site to enhance the experience of readers by updating and advancing the comment platform. The neat addition is run by the folks over at Intense Debate, and to put it simply, the new system is a major upgrade to the original commenting system that Blogger provided us with. Below is basically a run down of how to use it and explaining the details.

First things first, you no longer have to have a Blogger account to comment on the site. I know that hurt the number off comments on the site so it has been done away with. You can now just input your desired screen name in the box provided as well as an e-mail. As far as creating an account goes, you can sign up and log in with Intense Debate. Otherwise, if you have a Word Press, twitter, or Open ID account, you can log in that way as well. But as I said, you do not have to log in at all in order to comment on posts, you can just enter a name in the box.

The second thing I like about the new platform is that it gives you the option to directly reply to other users comments. That was one of the many major flaws in the Blogger commenting platform, forcing us to include other users' names in our comments to let them know we were talking directly to them. This new format is called "threads" as it creates more of a continuous discussion, which I feel will increase commenting overall.

And lastly, I now have greater moderation abilities. Over the summer we had some problems with foolish people that felt the need to start "Malkin to the Rangers" rumors here on the site. Thankfully that guy did not return, but if he were to return anytime soon, he would be banned from commenting on the site.

Now I am not looking to ban anyone and I will be very lenient with that, making sure not to abuse my power. However, if one thing turns into another and then into another, obviously you will be removed. I also can moderate profanity and inappropriate phrases, which will automatically be turned into asterisks. But as always, please keep this a PG-13 environment.

Again, all of the changes to the site over the past few weeks are only to improve the experience of the readers. I appreciate your cooperation as we make these changes and work out the kinks.