John Tortorella, right, stands in the bench area in the...

John Tortorella, right, stands in the bench area in the first period of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the Washington Capitals. (May 2, 2013) Credit: AP

He's not playing the blame game, at least not publicly.

After Saturday's 1-0 overtime loss, his team trails the Washington Capitals 2-0 in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, but Rangers coach John Tortorella said he isn't dwelling on the negatives. And he said his players aren't, either.

"Last time I remember, you need four games to win a series, and our guys are fully aware of that," Tortorella said Sunday as the Rangers prepared for Game 3 Monday night at Madison Square Garden. "I don't even think about that after a situation like last night."

He also said discussing the club's problems on the stagnant, 0-for-7 power play with the media "doesn't do any good. We're going to try to figure it out."

Tortorella also must figure out more productive line combinations. During Game 2, he moved Rick Nash away from Brad Richards and put him on a line with Derek Stepan and Ryan Callahan.

"I'm trying to develop more offense, and Hags [Carl Hagelin] was fighting it a bit and I wanted to get Nasher moved around," Tortorella said. "I thought it opened him up a little bit in the third period; he had a couple great chances in regulation."

Stepan, who has struggled in the playoffs in each of his three seasons, has been "at times really good," Tortorella said. "At other times . . . As [with] all our guys, when you score one goal, I try not to base it on goals and assists. He's given us some good minutes, but eventually we're going to have to finish with some of our guys if we want to crawl back into this."

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