Rangers look to snap two-game skid

After the Rangers' offense fizzled for the second straight game in Wednesday's 2-1 loss to the Panthers, coach John Tortorella was asked what the keys are to getting the unit going.

"Oh, a number of things," he said. "A number of things."

Asked if he could specify some of them, Tortorella said, "Nope. Not right now. I'll specify it with the team."

After winning seven straight games, the Rangers have dropped two in a row, and they scored one lonely goal in the losses. If not for goalie Henrik Lundqvist's superb work Wednesday, the Panthers would have won by a larger margin.

"The last two games, we've played teams that were pretty fast and moved the puck, and we've had a tough time holding on to the puck," said Lundqvist, who stopped 36 shots, including all 17 in a scoreless third period during which Florida was the more aggressive team. "We know we have to be better."

After an early-season schedule filled with international travel and not enough practice time, the Rangers (10-5-3) settled into a routine during their winning streak. Then they had two games in an eight-day span -- last Saturday's 4-0 defeat in Montreal and Wednesday's loss in Sunrise, Fla., to a surging Panthers squad.

Tortorella rejected the notion that the Rangers could look to the inconsistent schedule as a factor in their struggles.

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"Then we're looking for excuses," he said. "We have to stay together, just as we did as we were winning. I thought we were winning hockey games when we stayed within our team concept. I think it's gotten away from us a little bit, the details of the game. I hope nobody's giving you excuses in the locker room, because it isn't that. It comes and goes, so we've got to try and grab some momentum and have something good happen to us for a period, and hopefully we can build off of that."

The building, they hope, begins Friday when the Rangers visit the Washington Capitals. In fact, it began Thursday when the team held a holiday practice at the Verizon Center to try to work on some of the keys Tortorella presumably specified to the players.

"The big thing to me is just the confidence in each other," Brandon Dubinsky said. "We've got to make sure we're supporting each other. It doesn't matter if one guy is on the forecheck if there's nobody to pick up the puck. I don't think it's where it needs to be. We're a good team when we're grinding and cycling and all those things happen because we're supporting."

Rangers add two.The Rangers Thursday recalled forwards Carl Hagelin and John Mitchell from the Connecticut Whale of the AHL.