Kukla's Korner

Goal Line Report

Time for Torts to Step Up

From Larry Brooks at The New York Post:

After the Rangers were routed in Tampa on Friday but before they were routed in Pittsburgh on Saturday, John Tortorella suggested that it was past time for the locker room to “take ownership” of the inconsistency that has marked the past six weeks.

Fair enough. But when is the head coach going to take similar ownership of a team that is adrift without an identity, attack or defensive posture?

When is Tortorella, whose club gets back on the horse tonight when the Penguins come to the Garden 48 hours after inflicting an 8-3 punishment on the Blueshirts, going to imprint some sort of a stamp on this collection of players he had influence in selecting?

First things first, though: The Rangers need better from Henrik Lundqvist, who presumably will not be bumped from his start tonight by Steve Valiquette, Chad Johnson, Jussi Markkanen, Vitali Yeremeyev or Doug Soetaert, though following this weekend’s goaltending rotation, one never quite knows.

Tortorella’s decision to start Lundqvist in Tampa on Friday while saving Valiquette for the following night’s match in Pittsburgh was tantamount to Joe Girardi giving CC Sabathia the ball in Florida for an interleague game against the Marlins while saving Chad Gaudin for the following day’s opener of a series at Fenway.

Click here for more.

 

Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink
 Tags: John+Tortorella, New+York+Rangers,

Comments

Be the first to comment.

Add a Comment

Please limit embedded image or media size to 575 pixels wide.

Add your own avatar by joining Kukla's Korner, or logging in and uploading one in your member control panel.

Captchas bug you? Join KK or log in and you won't have to bother.

Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.
Feed

Most Recent Blog Posts

About Goal Line Report

Patrick has a tremendous passion for hockey. Besides covering the Rangers and the NHL for Kukla’s Korner, you can also find Patrick’s work over at Sportsnet.ca, The Red Light District Hockey Blog, NHL Home Ice, and Liam Maguire’s Ultimate Hockey web site.

Prior to writing for the above mentioned outlets, you could find Patrick’s musings at hockey web sites/outlets such as TheHockeyNews.com, TheFourthPeriod.com, Spector’s Hockey, Hokeja Vestnesis, Blueshirt Bulletin, SNYRangersBlog.com and many more.

For questions, comments and hip checks, feel free to e-mail Patrick at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).


Watch great hockey at a low price with Dish Network Specials

high yield savings account