Rangers find a way….

By Jon Gabrielle, NY Rangers correspondent

After Saturday night’s 2-1 win in Buffalo, Ranger coach, John Tortorella said, “we found a way to win a one goal game.”

Well, on Sunday, less than 24 hours after that game, the Rangers found a way to lose a one goal game, (sauf an empty netter with 7 seconds left), 3-1, to the Detroit Red Wings.

This time it arrived in the unexpected form of “Mr. Softie,” and we’re not talking about the ice cream truck. No, this was King Henry at his worst. The goalie that just the night before was lauded by his coach as having played “outstanding,” gave up a soft goal from a horrible angle to the Wings’ Dan Cleary.

Cleary always around Ranger net. (photo by duluoz cats/flickr)

What made it worse, if possible, was the time of the goal as there was only 2:03 left in the thrid period in what was up to that point a 1-1 tie.

While the coach called his goalie, “the backbone of our team.” He had to add, “that was a bad goal.” I’m sure no one feels worse about it than Hank.”

But therein lies the problem with this Ranger team. Too much focus on one player and his ability, to play, pitch or, deliver the perfect performance night in and night out.

With the ongoing scoring drought, every goal against has the abiltiy to cripple this team, something the coach alluded to in his post game press conference. “We cut it too fine…we needed to get that second one…we didn’t and it came back and bites us right in the ass!”

The “second one” the coach was looking for might have come on one of the three power play opportunities the Rangers had in the third period. But on this night, the 2nd rated home power play unit in the league could not get the job done.

Tortorella continues to pound a positive drum beat, saying, “I thought we played well” on more than one occasion during his discourse.

Perhaps the coach is talking about his defense? Because since the November 23rd game when his team hung a 7 spot on Colombus, they have scored just 10 goals in their last 6 games.

Digging a little deeper, the Rangers have now managed to score more than 2 goals in a game, only 4 times in their last 16 games. A clear indication that something is amiss, at least offensively, on Broadway.

Ironically, before the game Saturday night, Lindey Ruff, the long time Buffalo coach, categorized Tortorella as “a puck pressure, high energy type of coach.”

The question is fast becoming…can this Ranger squad find a way to play their enigmatic leader’s brand of hockey?