RANGERS SLEEP THROUGH SENATE SESSION

by Rich Baiocco

As John Tortorella remarked in his postgame interview: "We haven't played too many games like this all year" referencing his team's inability to muster the necessary emotion and energy it took to compete for 60 minutes last night against the loose and trap-baiting Ottawa Senators. Mark Staal, who returned to the lineup after a knee soreness that kept him out for 2 games (and logged almost 30 minutes!), said he thought his team was sleepy for the first two periods and Lundqvist took it a bit further commenting "we looked dead out there for a while." Regardless of the excuse or diagnosis, the fact remained that the Rangers lost out on a big standings point to a team out of the playoff picture with only 7 games to go and a rugged schedule ahead of them.

That being said, the Blueshirts salvaged a valuable point. In fact they've managed three points in two games scoring only 2 goals, so the defense has been strong and no one has been stronger than Henrik Lundvist who has shown Vezina-worthy consistency in net lately. Brandon Prust invigorated his team and the irksome Garden crowd when he converted a feed off a monster second effort from Marc Staal in the 3rd period to send the game to overtime. The goal ran a jolt through his Ranger teammates who were finally able to sustain some offensive pressure, but they let a golden opportunity slip away taking a 4 on 3 man-advantage into the extra session and managed only one decent shot on goal.

In the shootout, the normally deadly trio of Christensen, Zuccarello and Wolski seemed unsure and sloppy, while luck worked against us as Callahan's stick broke during his attempt. Lundqvist's fellow countryman Erik Karlsson scored the lone shootout goal, much to the frustration of the King who said after playing with Karlsson during the summer he was expecting the young swede to go five-hole, but instead he fired an almost perfect shot just over the pad and inside of the post.

With a rough and tumble game coming up tomorrow afternoon against Boston it may be time, if ever, to get Sean Avery back into the mix. The agitator has been a healthy scratch ever since he took two penalties in an undisciplined game against the Islanders, though I suspect the true reason he has stayed out this long has more to do with the fact that #16 has only 3 goals this season and the Rangers spiked into an offensive groove with other line combinations. Still, the Bruins--coming off a brutal 7-0 spanking of the Canadians--will try to bully us around and we need to have a strong emotional response on Saturday in Beantown. Perhaps giving Zuccarello or Christensen a game off will put a little more torque in their engines for the final drive to the playoffs. The Blueshirts are only 2 points behind Montreal for the 6th spot in the East and following Boston they face the 8th seed Sabres who would like nothing better than to clip our pace.