Rangers shift Stepan to wing for offense
Derek Stepan #21 of the New York Rangers passes the puck around Mike Green #52 of the Washington Capitals during the first period at the Verizon Center. (Feb. 25, 2011) Credit: Getty Images
GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- Rangers center Derek Stepan, the poised rookie who scored 21 goals but missed the final cut for the Calder Trophy, took Tuesday's results in stride.
"I'm very lucky and very blessed that I had a solid year," Stepan said. "The most important thing is what we're playing for right now."
Now means Wednesday's critical Game 4 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinals, in which the Rangers trail the Capitals 2-1 and are looking to even the series at Madison Square Garden.
In an effort to create more scoring opportunities -- the Rangers have four goals in three games -- Stepan will skate on right wing, where he has played a few times during the season. "I think the first three times [coach John Tortorella] did it, I scored a goal on the first two shifts," Stepan said of the switch. "Then he said something to me and that was it. I started overthinking."
On Tortorella's watch, overthinking is trouble.
"I have full faith in the club that they're not going to get involved in anything around us and just focus on the job," Tortorella said, leaving the off-ice musings to Caps coach Bruce Boudreau. "Just go about our business; we're not going to get into any kind of convoluted thinking."
Boudreau had lobbied the league to review Marc Staal's high hit on defenseman Mike Green in Game 3, moaned about officials allowing the Rangers to jam rookie goaltender Michal Neuvirth after being warned, and complained publicly about the dressing room and benches at the 43-year-old Garden.
"We have confidence in the league, we have confidence in the officials, that they won't be influenced by all the whining going on here," Tortorella said. "We're staying away from it. It's a pretty good series, pretty good teams going at it pretty hard."
The Rangers are 39-28 all-time in Game 4s, including 5-0 since 2007, and have advanced seven times when trailing 2-1. The Capitals, who are the East's No. 1 seed, are 1-4 in seven-game series when they led 2-0.
Of course, this edition of the Capitals is stronger defensively. They lead the league in postseason goals-against average, surrendering 1.33 goals per game. Washington has allowed just two five-on-five goals.
If the Capitals win Game 4, they would have an enormous advantage. In the 229 times that teams have trailed 3-1 in a best-of-seven series, teams have rallied to win the series only 20 times.
"They did their job at home and we have to do our job here to get back in the series," goaltender Henrik Lundqvist said. "We're still down. We need to play even better than the last game. They're going to come back hard. We have to be ready . . . I don't really care what they feel or think about the building. There's certain points in the game where you can feed off the great atmosphere."
After a two-day break, the puck drops again tonight.
"I'm sure both teams are chomping on the bit," Tortorella said. "I know we are."
More Rangers
