Friday folio: PP work, line shuffles

11:52 AM By Steve Zipay

                Two coaches and a dozen Rangers were inside the blue line at one end of the rink for practicing the strugling power play. Rest of the ice vacant. Five D, no Dan Girardi.

                First unit the same: Gaborik, Prospal, Callahan, Del Zotto, Kotalik. Second unit: Higgins, Avery, Parenteau, and rotating D: Gilroy. Staal, Redden, Rozsival

               The four defenders used sticks upside down....Goalies rotated as well. Avery was positioned in front of the net and loudly urged Rozsival to shoot at one point. 

               Looks as if Enver Lisin is on fourth line, replacing Donald Brashear, who is with Higgins and Callahan...

Kotalik moves to No. 1 line

Thursday November 19, 2009 4:13 PM By Steve Zipay

                   More observations from practice:

                   A few players always linger to skate and shoot after practice ends. Not today.    Rare.

                   After an hour, coach John Tortorella ordered everyody off. "They had enough," he said later. "Boss's orders," said Marc Staal.  But the door to the locker room was initially closed for five minutes, said one observer, before reporters were waved in from the rink.

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                  Ales Kotalik is the latest tryout on the No. 1 line with Gaborik and Prospal...A right wing, he'll shift to the offwing against the Panthers Saturday in a move that the coach hopes will lead to more puck control...Enver Lisin (hairline fracture of foot) moves down to a line with Higgins at center and P. A. Parenteau....Wonder if Lisin, Anisimov and Parenteau would make sense?   Avery-Higgins-Callahan?   

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                    From Tortorella on the PP: "Kots is having problems getting pucks through. But the biggest---and it permeates through the team---is we’re just not retrieving pucks, 5 on 5, and it’s filtered into our power play...We just haven’t had the puck enough. It’s one and done on the power play, we have not had the puck enough under the hash marks..." Parenteau-Higgins-Avery were on second PP unit...Lots of dump and chase drills...

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                   On Callahan:  "It’s been a little bit of a struggle for him, when he does have the puck, a lot of of shots have been blocked," said Tortorella. "But I think he’s strong enough mentally. He’s just in a little bit of a funk, just a split-second late. Maybe a little of it is quickness, he logs a lot of ice time. Maybe we'll try to keep him a little fresher, but it's a tough call when you look down the bench and you know what he brings."



                   
 

Sean Avery on Shanahan: "League should hire him"

Thursday November 19, 2009 2:10 PM By Steve Zipay

                That's No. 16 on his pal, who retired on Tuesday. Avery said that Shanahan, 40, wouldn't be taking time off.  "He knows what he's going to do. If we were lucky, the league would hire him and we'd all move in the right direction."  IMO, that's where this may be headed, perhaps with a team.

                      Should know more next week.

                      “I don’t ever think you know it’s coming until the press release is splashed out there,” Avery said. “The feeling was he was ready to move on. I think he’s excited about it. I think he was ready... I definitely think he’s going to be working at some point. He’s too smart a guy and he’s too well respected, not only in sports, to not be.” Avery did hint that it would be on the business side of things, not a radio/TV gig.

Tortorella: Chris Drury had "number of good days", seeing doc today

Thursday November 19, 2009 12:59 PM By Steve Zipay

                Sounds as if the post-concussion symptoms are disappearing after 11 days....Nothing new on Dubinsky, stiil IR....Lisin says his left foot (hairline fracture) could use some rest and it is affecting some of his skating, especially stopping. "But we've got a lot of games coming up..."  More in a few

The Morning Skate...

Thursday November 19, 2009 10:20 AM By Steve Zipay

               Practice is at 11 a.m.

               Wondering if there will be some tinkering with the lines, D-pairs or power play. Swing back later for a report, quotes, etc. Also, will try to nail down updates on Drury and Dubinsky...

               Also, for you laggards who haven't taken advantage of the freebies, I have real-time updates at twitter.com/stevezipay

Pack-Watchers: Evgeny Grachev not ready

Wednesday November 18, 2009 10:36 AM By Steve Zipay

                Yesssss....

                 Immediate reaction to my kneejerk attempt to stir the pot on a day without practice and two more without games. And of course, to pump up the view on the blog, Twitter and for the upcoming live chat. Sign of the times, right?

                 Laurie at Beyond the Blueshirts and Mitch Beck at Howlings reiterate that Evgeny Grachev is not, repeat, not yet ready for New York. They say he lacks confidence, is getting pushed around and has not adjusted to the pace of the A. 

                 All well and good. So what do Rangers do?

                 Shake up the lines again? Stay the course and hope they can put together a two-game winning streak before Christmas? Do nothing else to fill the O-void with five games in eight days coming up?

                Mr. Beck suggested Dale Weise. Perhaps he has more to offer than Byers. Thoughts?

Transcript: Rangers chat with Steve Zipay

Wednesday November 18, 2009 9:59 AM By Mike Rose

Steve Zipay talks Rangers and takes your questions today in a live chat at 1 p.m.

Unleash the hounds! Live chat, right here, 1 p.m.

Wednesday November 18, 2009 9:26 AM By Steve Zipay

               John Tortorella said last night that Matt Gilroy should have prevented game-winner by taking penalty.  Great. This after he's been scolding players fro weeks on late-game penalties.

               IMO, Lundqvist is being way too passive. He admitted he was on his heels.

               Beyond the fact that this team lacks secondary scoring, there's a gap in dynamism. Lundqvist needs to provide it, challenging shooters, being more vocal.

               Right now, Pens and Flyers have far more offensive depth, Devils have more discipline and Isles have more legs, confidence and forechecking.  And Tortorella was talking about the mid-January and February dog days?  Arf, arf, now...

               Is it time for Evgeny Grachev?

              If you can't make the chat, shame on ya, but post yer questions early here...

The Sobering Recap: Marian Gaborik needs sidekicks

Wednesday November 18, 2009 9:09 AM By Steve Zipay

                  You can’t blame Marian Gaborik if he’s outside Penn Station this morning wearing a “Help Wanted” sign.
                   The Slovak sniper, who came to New York last summer after eight seasons as the top scorer on a defense-first Minnesota Wild team, has become the Lone Ranger.
                    His 15 goals, including the pair last night in a punchless 4-2 loss to the Capitals at Madison Square Garden, puts him in a tie for the league lead, but the rest of the Blueshirts have netted just 39 through 21 games, and after a brisk start have settled in barely above .500 at 11-9-1.
                     “We’ve got to capitalize and try to score on those hardworking, grinding plays,” said Gaborik, earning every bit of his $37.5 million, five-year contract, with at least a point in 17 of 19 games. “We didn’t generate a lot of shots (16 without Gaborik’s four), that was a problem. We came back in the third, we had some good chances. We need to keep the puck down low more often.”
                     Low and on the net, agreed head coach John Tortorella, who said that the power play, just 1-for-4, needed assistance. “Our biggest weakness is that we are not getting any secondary scoring…We’re not going to be at 26, 27 percent (on the power play) all year,” he said, adding that the players have watched video of how opponents have been defending them. “We need to get five-on-five goals from other people….we can’t get one or two goals and expect to win.” What the club needs, he lamented, is “an even strength-goal by a second or third line guy.”                 
                      That’s exactly what Matt Bradley provided for the Caps, with the score knotted at 2, at 4:51 left in regulation. After Gaborik’s second goal, from a sharp angle to the right of goaltender Seymon Varlamov on a power play at 8:23 of the third, Bradley cashed in his fourth of the season.
                     In a battle along the right boards at the Washington blue line with Wade Redden, the puck bounced off Redden’s raised glove and Bradley was off on a semi-breakaway. Although defenseman Matt Gilroy hounded him, Bradley lifted a shot over the glove of Henrik Lundqvist, who appeared to go down early.
                   “It’s amazing,” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said of Bradley. “He did this is Nashville. He got cut pretty good, came back, and was instrumental in us winning. He’s got oodles of character.”
                    Most of the Rangers showed character, if not effectiveness,  in particular Sean Avery, who was his familiar pesky self and provided an assist, and Chris Higgins, who had seven hits, four shots and won seven of 13 faceoffs.   
                    The Rangers came out flying, and Gaborik snuck behind defenseman Jeff Schultz and flicked in a rebound of Dan Girardi's point shot at 1:16.
                     Although aware of the dangers of spending time in the box against the potent Caps, the Rangers took four penalties and reigning MVP Ovechkin, returning after missing 15 days with an upper-body injury, and Brooks Laich, each scored for a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes.
                    Meanwhile, the Rangers mustered just 11 shots---a season low---in the first two periods. They didn’t have a shot for a 19:20 stretch until Higgins forced Varlamov to make a save at 3:27 of the second.  
                   “I just couldn’t come up with the big save there at the end,” said Lundqvist, referring to Bradley’s goal. He can’t shoulder all the blame. The Rangers couldn’t even threaten Varlamov with an extra attacker and Brian Pothier sealed the win with an empty-netter.

               (Apologies. Thought this was posted last night at 11:15)