John Tortorella downplays benching of Marian Gaborik
Rangers head coach John Tortorella speaks to his team during a second period timeout against the New Jersey Devils. (May 14, 2012) Credit: Jim McIsaac
According to historian Douglas Harper's Online Etymology Dictionary, a benching, in the sporting sense, meaning "to take out of the game," can be traced back to 1902.
Rangers coach John Tortorella, who doesn't mince words when he wants to, has his own definition: "You put players in situations that are going to try to help you win games," he said Thursday. "Some guys, if you just don't think it's working, they don't see the ice. You guys [the media] like calling them benchings. As coaches, we're trying to find a way to win a hockey game and make decisions accordingly."
On Wednesday night, the coach was tight-lipped about Marian Gaborik's 3:07 of ice time in the third period, when the Rangers, trailing 3-2, needed a goal in Game 2 against the Devils in the Eastern Conference finals.
Thursday, during an off-day conference call, Tortorella downplayed the issue. "When you go into these momentum swings of winning a game or losing a game, it's not one individual," he said. "Certainly it was not in [Wednesday] night's game, it was not one individual guy. There are things we have to be better at as a team."
With the Devils squaring the best-of-seven series at one game apiece heading into Saturday's game at Prudential Center in Newark, Tortorella's team now finds itself in a familiar position: Going on the road after losing a chance to control the series.
So far, they have persevered. Against the Senators, the Blueshirts won Game 3 in Ottawa, 1-0, behind Henrik Lundqvist's 39 saves.
In Game 3 against the Capitals, it was Gaborik who potted the game-winner that ended the 2-1 triple-overtime marathon at Verizon Center in Washington and who assisted on the other tally in the first period.
Gaborik and other veterans, and the core of shot-blockers, probably will appreciate the short respite before Game 3. Even counting the four-day break before Game 1 against the Senators, the Rangers have played 49 games (50-plus if you count the overtimes) in the last 102 days, or virtually every other day.
"You want to try to win a couple in a row and the other team doesn't want to lose a couple in a row," Tortorella said, explaining the roller-coaster ride of the playoffs. "If you want to use [the word] parity, you use it. You throw out the seedings. These are good teams playing at this time of year -- especially when you get to the final four, the teams must be doing something right. We didn't [Wednesday] night, we move by it, we learn from it and hopefully we're going to be a better team come Saturday."
It certainly won't be a cakewalk in Newark.
In the playoffs, the Rangers are 3-3 on the road -- 2-1 in Ottawa and 1-2 in Washington. The Devils are 4-1 at home with wins in their last four games. They were 8-1-1 in their last 10 regular-season home games.
"Our fans, you can tell how excited they are for where we're at right now and in the first round and the second round they made the building as loud as I've ever heard it," Devils captain Zach Parise said during a conference call. "That goes a long way. We've all been saying it. We need them to be even louder and get more involved in this round."
More Rangers
