Additional Quotes and Thoughts from Sunday's Win Over Bruins

Andrew Gross of Ranger Rants caught up with John Tortorella, Marian Gaborik, Vinny Prospal, and Henrik Lundqvist after yesterday's 1-0 victory against the Boston Bruins. All had some interesting thoughts, so I thought I would share on this Monday Morning.

John Tortorella on the team’s effort...

“That is a tough team to play against - the way they play, how strong defensively they are, how they play in the neutral zone. It needed to be a patient, grinding type game. I think if you open yourself up, that is when they counter and that is when they become successful. I thought our decision making was good. I thought our grinding was better. Cally (Ryan Callahan)…I thought (Christopher) Higgins had a good game in the grinding part of it. (Ales) Kotalik, as far as being strong on the puck. We found a way to score a goal and found a way to win.”

Marian Gaborik on Vinny Prospal…

“His work ethic is unbelievable. He is a great playmaker. He goes there and works hard. He sees the ice, you can see that every night out there. He is looking to pass and he did tonight.”

Henrik Lundqvist on today’s game…

“It was a fun game. This is what I was used to last year…low scoring and tight. I got a little spoiled this year. We have been scoring a lot. The feeling was one mistake could cost us big time. I like that feeling. I have to be on my toes all of the time.”

Vinny Prospal on Sunday's Win...

“Obviously Hank (Henrik Lundqvist) was great for us in net. He made some huge saves throughout the whole hockey game. We were able to score the goal and it proved to be the winner. They are a really good hockey team. They have everything that a hockey team needs. They have the playmakers. They have the goal scorers and they have a great goalie as well.”

Like I mentioned in my postgame analysis yesterday, John Tortorella was very happy with the grinding by the team on Sunday afternoon, and I must say that I agree with him. Chris Higgins and Ryan Callahan have clearly struggled as of late, but in this particular contest they were effective on both the forecheck and backcheck, as well as on the penalty kill. Tortorella even sent Higgins out in the final seconds of the game to assist in holding off the Bruins who had an extra attacker with Thomas on the bench. That just goes to show the coaching staff's trust in the New York native, and hopefully karma will take effect here, and Higgins will finally be rewarded with a goal for his persistent efforts.

As for Callahan, he found himself with some prime scoring opportunities that he was just unable to bury, but at the same time, he returned to his limitless effort self, and created some opportunities for linemates as well. I know Callahan has been criticized lately, but he played very well yesterday, and even though he did not register a goal, there is nothing to complain about regarding his game.

It is also worth mentioning the chemistry that has begun to form between forwards Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal. Gabs put it perfectly in the above quote; Prospal has been dead on with his passing, and when you have someone to feed your star winger like Vinny has to Gaborik, it will make your first offensive line close to unstoppable. It goes without saying that these two will be together for quite a long time as long as both are healthy and producing.

Gaborik continues to dominate the scoring sheets, recording his 11th goal in just 13 games played. Man oh man have do we now know how much of a difference this guy makes when in the lineup, as they greatly struggled without him prior to Sunday's matinee. Looking forward to seeing him play against the western conference teams this coming week.

I also forgot to mention the solid play of Artem Anisimov in the postgame yesterday. Anisimov ended up playing third line minutes due to the limited ice time given to Enver Lisin because of a foot injury. Anisimov really looks comfortable playing at the NHL level, and I only expect him to continuosly improve from here.

One last thing, all of the fingers seem to be pointing in Henrik Lundqvist's direction, in a good way of course. Lundqvist was every positive adjective you can think of in this game, hence the shutout. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Swedish netminder on his 150th career NHL win. Whether or not Hank will start in all three of the Western Canada games is still unknown, but I would suspect that he will be between the pipes in at least two of the three.

Back Later.....

(Image courtesy of AP Photo)