The Rangers high powered scoring came to a screeching halt last night as they were shutout and bullied by the Flyers, who recreated their Broad Street Bullies days. The lowlight of the game was when that old Lady Bynger, Daniel Carcillo, 'fought' with Ranger 'brawler' Marian Gaborik. Wonderful. Dan Girardi was so impressed with Gaborik's fistic skills that he watched the whole brawl without moving a muscle. But why blast Girardi for doing what most of the Rangers would have done, save possibly Avery, Voros, Callahan and Dubinsky. Avery later tangled with Carcillo but it was too little too late.
The Rangers offense went south. Ray Emery picked up as easy a shutout as an NHL goalie can get. The last two games against the Flyers have produced no goals, while giving up eight. While the Rangers soared against Montreal and Tamp Bay they come up woefully short against the tougher teams. The Rangers have a glaring weakness and it is in the 'overall team toughness'. The Rangers don't have the players with build and the will to win the tough games.
Last post we remarked on how long would it take for Tortorella to break up the Avery, Voros, Boyle line, the Crash Line. Well, it lasted into the second period. Also, Tortorella and NY Post writer Larry Brooks went at in the press conference with Torts refusing to answer Brooks question. Is the coach losing it? Who will crack first? The Rangers or Tortorella?
Larry Brooks / NY Post:
Rangers show little fight in loss to Flyers --
PHILADELPHIA -- John Tortorella's sense of honor, an amorphous concept to begin with, was offended last night when Flyers' thug Daniel Carcillo dropped his gloves to throw punches at the Rangers' elegant pacifist, Marian Gaborik, at 5:43 of the second period of the Flyers' 2-0 victory.
Perhaps the head coach should have directed his ire at Dan Girardi and the rest of the Blueshirts on the ice at the time who were bystanders (though hardly innocent ones) to the bout during which their best player was in jeopardy.
Or maybe Tortorella already had done so, because Girardi, who watched from just a few feet away as the unfair fight unfolded in the Rangers' attacking left corner and circle, told The Post that he regretted his decision not to engage on behalf of his teammate...
Pundit: This game was nothing short of an embarassment to Slats, Rangers player personnel staff and maybe Torts as well. This was reminiscent of Dale Rolfe. Someone is going to get hurt on our side if some men are not brought in. Remember - this wasn't event Minny with Boogaard and Scott. Haven't been this concerned/frightened for our boys in a long time. Kudos to Voros/Avery but just showing up won't do it - the scraps have to be won in order to make the point. RJC
RJC-As I have stated many times most of our wins are "fools gold". We can only beat the skating teams. We can't beat the teams who like to take the body. The Caps, Devils, Islanders and even the Blues. They all have young, tough dudes. Young and tough is not in The Stealth's arsenal. The Stealth is to blame and Torts is his willing accomplice. The Stealth is not embarassed, he's laughing all the way to the bank.
Good comments.