Rangers hope to make their point in Phoenix

ST. LOUIS -- In hockey, a loss isn't necessarily like taking sick when nobody knows the cure. The Rangers have been beaten in their last two games because the opposition -- Dallas on Tuesday and St. Louis on Thursday -- played better than they did.

"I can't make it any more simplified," Rangers coach John Tortorella said after the second pointless game, equaling the longest non-winning stretch since an 0-1-2 start to an otherwise upbeat 17-8-4 season.

"It was a game of battles [against St. Louis]," Tortorella said. "It usually is that, but against St. Louis, that's how they play. They're big, they're strong. It was a test for us to try to do it consistently along the walls, and we didn't. I think our team is good at that game, but this time, they were the better team."

After the Rangers fell behind by two goals in the first period, Tortorella scrambled with extensive line changes, including the nine-minute benching of primary offensive weapon Brad Richards, who didn't question the move.

With Richards and linemates Ryan Callahan and Ruslan Fedotenko on the ice for both early St. Louis goals, Richards acknowledged: "We got scored on twice in a matter of minutes. We've just got to be better than that."

But Tortorella insisted: "It wasn't just [Richards]. It was a couple of guys. The line just wasn't playing that well."

Except for the game's first seven minutes and a stretch of four minutes at the end of the second period -- after the Rangers conjured Michael Del Zotto's goal on only their second shot of the period to pull within 2-1 -- St. Louis controlled events on the way to its fourth straight win. The result for the Rangers, who had scored 10 goals in the two previous games before totaling one against Dallas and St. Louis, was a sharp U-turn.

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"That's hockey," said goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who has a career 0-3-0 record against St. Louis. "The difference between winning and losing and scoring three or nothing, it's small, small details."

Sometimes, Lundqvist said, a team needs a fortuitous bounce, as St. Louis got on its third goal -- set in motion off Alexander Steen's stick before it caromed off Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi, flipped over Lundqvist's head and hopped off his back into the net.

"About scoring," Lundqvist said, "it's not something we should over-think. We have a bunch of skilled guys. We just have to keep working hard."

Notes & quotes: Forwards Wojtek Wolski (groin, out since Nov. 3) and Mike Rupp (knee, out since Oct. 24) returned to contact drills during Friday's practice session here before the team traveled to Phoenix for Saturday's game. Defenseman Marc Staal (concussion) skated with a non-contact jersey.