Without key players, hard work earns wins

The Rangers got to enjoy some additions to their roster Tuesday night, a pleasant change from two months of subtraction after subtraction.

It was a different story on the opposing bench. The Penguins came to town without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin; they even managed to lose their substitute top-line center, rookie Mark Letestu, to an undisclosed injury suffered after a few spins around the Madison Square Garden ice during the team's morning skate.

John Tortorella was in an unfamiliar position, but he took a familiar attitude toward the return of Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky and Dan Girardi from various injuries.

"We're not good enough," Tortorella said, asked if his team can afford to take a Crosby- and Malkin-less team lightly. "We have to be ready to play at all times . . . We won't win if we don't play the same way."

The Rangers have become a viable playoff contender through hard work. Perhaps they're lucky that they don't have a Crosby or a Malkin to fall back upon when the offense stalls. They have learned, through the message being beaten into them by a demanding coach and through the wins that have come, that grinding it out is the only way for this team to succeed.

Their lineup is no longer dotted with call-ups. Callahan's return was marked by a power-play goal that tied the score at 3 in the second period. Dubinsky, slotted in on a line with Marian Gaborik and Artem Anisimov, generated a few good chances in the first period.

Things have changed since Callahan went down six weeks ago and Dubinsky was lost a month ago. Mats Zuccarello, the diminutive playmaker, has worked his way into the lineup with his creativity and his moxie. "He's not a guy who's going back there [to the AHL] any time soon," Tortorella said.

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Sean Avery, bumped undeservedly down to fourth-line duty last night, is another who has elevated his play in the absence of the bigger-name Rangers. There are spots for Callahan and Dubinsky, of course, the two heart-and-soul, homegrown talents who are the forward leaders of this team.

Vinny Prospal, due back Thursday for his first game of the year, has a spot waiting, too. Gaborik hasn't been himself this year and Prospal, his able linemate last year, will get a crack to try and rekindle the chemistry of last season.

After that, it gets tricky. Ruslan Fedotenko has been the free-agent find of the season for the Rangers. When he returns in a couple of weeks, can he find his way back in alongside Brian Boyle and Brandon Prust? Will Erik Christensen, due back in a week, be able to claim a center spot and bump down Prospal, Boyle, Anisimov or Derek Stepan?

For more than a month, the Rangers were clawing and scratching for goals and wins. The Penguins are in that spot now, but the key for them is not changing a thing, even with two all-world players out.

"We'd love to have them back, but honestly, no one's really talking about it right now," Brooks Orpik said. "We can't change the way we play."

And as a result, the Penguins came into Tuesday night with this surprising stat: 26-14-8 without Crosby in the lineup, 5-3-1 this season. They are 14-12-1 all-time without Malkin, 7-1 this season.

The system, the work, is what matters. Not the stars.

Luckily, every Ranger already knows that. Which is why the shuffle Tuesday night was so smooth a transition.

"I don't worry about this group," Tortorella said. "I think they enjoy playing the way we play - because they've seen the results."