Rangers outshooting opponents by wide margin
New York Rangers' Ryan Callahan, left, slides in on Montreal Canadiens' goaltender Carey Price during first period NHL hockey action in Montreal. (Feb. 5, 2011) Credit: AP
MONTREAL - Once again, the Rangers generated a third-period push, with 19 shots against Carey Price, but came up empty. In the last six games, the Rangers (2-3-1) have outshot opponents 54-15 in the third period.
"Seems like we've been showing up in the thirds," Ryan Callahan said. "We had some great chances, seemed like we were in their end the whole period. We've got to start burying those or do that the whole game. Price was playing the puck well. When he does, it's hard to get in on the forecheck."
Brandon Prust lamented the lost opportunities.
"We've had a lot of frustrating games," said Prust, who made a perfect centering pass to Sean Avery with just over a minute left and the Rangers trailing 1-0. But Avery's hard shot was stopped by Price. "We fall behind and try to crawl back in. It's tough in this league, you can't always crawl back in the third."
Too much tinkering?
In Friday's practice, Derek Stepan was between Vinny Prospal and Marian Gaborik; Erik Christensen between Sean Avery and Mats Zuccarello, and Prust and Wojtek Wolski flanked Brian Boyle. But for yesterday's matinee, the lines were shuffled again.
In his postgame comments, coach John Tortorella hinted that he may be tinkering too much. "I sat there thinking, 'Should I just leave them alone?' I go with my stomach. I'm really frustrated with a few of them."
Drury's status iffy
Chris Drury had fluid drained from his left knee Friday. Tortorella said there was no timetable for his return . . . D Steve Eminger was a healthy scratch for the third straight game in favor of Michael Del Zotto. Tortorella said that even though Eminger "isn't 35," the idea is to continue Del Zotto's development.
