Desperation needed

       John Tortorella seemed exercised in a "pep talk" on the ice with his team before practice. Later, he told reporters, "We need to play hard. I'm not going to get into defining how, that's between the team and I." The team had a meeting shortly after practice.

        "It's about results right now," the coach said, when he was asked if he took anything good out of the loss Wednesday night. "it's not a level that, with the situation we're in right now, we need to play at."

        About facing the Penguins, he said: "You need to always respect your opponent, that goes without saying. But it's don't fear them. It comes down to our accountability and how we're going to play. We know we're playing against a good club in Pittsburgh, but we can't get too involved in that. We just have to, again, try and find a way to get to a level where we're getting points, no matter who we're playing."

       On the Eastern Conference race, which sees the Rangers now in 10th, he said: "What level do you have to get to, to keep on trying to get back into it? I think there are going to be a couple of spots for six or seven hockey clubs. That is still there. You look at the situation you're in, you can't drag yourself around. You can't get too low because there's still opportunity."

        As for the desperation the Rangers players say they need, the coach said,  "Judging by some of the desperation on our team, or lack of, I wonder."